US businessman Salamon Berkowitz, whose bid to purchase the Split-based drinks producer Dalmacijavino has been turned down by the Economy Ministry because he failed to provide proof of a bank guarantee, said on Monday he wanted to meet with Economy Minister Radimir Cacic because he had been given only three hours to secure the guarantee.
I sent a letter to Cacic on February 2 because I believe that we can solve this "administrative ping-pong" over the bank guarantee and the the purchase terms, and if we conclude that the deal with Dalmacijavino is not doable, we should issue a joint press release, Berkowitz told a press conference.
The owner of Traubi International said that the State Property Management Agency (AUDIO) had sent a request for a bank guarantee of 120 million kuna as late as January 31, three hours before the expiry of the deadline within which he had had to provide additional documents for the purchase of Dalmacijavino.
The bank guarantee is not a problem at all, but in addition to too short a deadline there is also the question of unclear ownership of Dalmacijavino's real estate, which is heavily mortgaged, Berkowitz said, adding that the government had undertaken to forgo its claims in case of purchase, but that later on he had found out that some banks and workers also had their claims.
As soon as the ownership issue is resolved, I can secure a guarantee from any European bank in 36 hours, Berkowitz said. He stressed that before January 31 AUDIO had not requested any guarantee and had assured him that the deal would be made.
It is a bad example to other foreign investors, and this kind of story would be seen in foreign media as a joke because of which Croatia would be disgraced, Berkowitz said, claiming that he did not want to make an impression abroad that Croatia was hostile to foreign investors.
I want to sit down with a representative of the vendor and if he tells me to get out of here I will do so without causing damage to Croatia, the businessman said.
The Economy Ministry said in a statement on February 1 that the documentation provided by Traubi International was "incomplete and unacceptable" because it did not contain a bank guarantee and an opinion on the proposed sales contract, whereby Berkowitz was considered to have abandoned the plan to buy Dalmacijavino and conditions were met for the company to go into receivership.
