FMR will "act as a long-term Delo owner and support its strategic, technological and staffing development," the company said in a press release.

Noting that Delo had a prominent place on the Slovenian media scene, the company said it would leverage good governance practices to make it a successful company.

This will allow Delo to "create good conditions for the preservation and development of independent and investigative journalism".

At the same time, FMR expects Delo to be profitable, which is "one of the key reasons for the purchase".

The FMR management will explain the rationale behind the purchase at a press conference early next week.

Delo chairman Irma Gubanec would not comment on the new owner. She said "everyone who seeks opportunities for development" was an appropriate owner since Delo's potentials were "significant".

The 100% stake in Delo was put on sale by brewer Pivovarna Laško in line with a restructuring process that requires it offload non-core assets.

Laško said the transaction would be completed in the coming months after all the suspensive conditions have been fulfilled.

The auction also featured Pronet, a small IT services firm which reportedly bankrolled last year's acquisition of newspaper publisher Večer.

Pivovarna Laško paid EUR 95m for Delo more than ten years ago. It had started the process of offloading it in 2010.