In a statement concerning its obligation to announce an offer for the takeover of the LRH, published on the Zagreb Stock Exchange on Monday, SN Holding said that on July 23 it signed with the HFP an agreement whereby it acquired 177,273 LRH shares, of which the HFP immediately transferred to it 165,941 shares. The HFP will transfer the remaining 11,332 shares to SN Holding when and if deferment conditions envisaged by the agreement are met, SN Holding said in the statement.

Before the signing of the July 23 agreement, SN Holding had 7,732 shares in the LRH and after its signing it holds a total of 185,005 shares, which makes up 61.13 percent of all voting shares.

From this arises the obligation for SN Holding to announce a bid for the takeover of all LRH shares.

SN Holding will publish its takeover bid after HANFA, the national agency for the supervision of financial services, grants its request to that effect.

The July 23 agreement between the HFP and SN Holding was signed after the government decided to transfer to SN Holding, free of charge, 165,941 LRH shares or 54.83 percent of its stock in order to settle all ongoing disputes between SN Holding and the HFP which date back to the time of voucher privatisation.

Under the agreement, the HFP is to pay SN Holding the HRK 162.1 million which SN Holding had paid under a 2005 agreement that was never implemented.

The LRH is the biggest hotel company in the northern Adriatic region of Kvarner.

Shares of SN Holding on the Zagreb Stock Exchange on Monday saw a significant increase in price, going up by as much as 30 percent. Around noon, they were traded at a price of HRK 205, generating a turnover of around HRK 1.1 million.

By noon, LRH shares generated around HRK 603,000 in turnover, going up around 4.5 percent to HRK 2,310.