Narodne Novine-Press is the publisher and sole owner of Vjesnik with HRK 20,000 in stock capital. Bids can be submitted by April 10. The results will be announced eight days after they are opened. Narodne Novine retains the right to reject all bids.

The deputy chair of the Croatian Journalists Association's (HND) Vjesnik branch, Iva Borkovic, told the media it was worrying that the invitation for bids did not state the time until which the new owner had to keep all 98 employees, requesting that a reasonable period of time be set.

HND president Zdenko Duka too said it was unacceptable that such a deadline had not bee set.

"It's unclear who could take over under the announced terms a newspaper with no circulation, having to keep all employees and pay a HRK 14 million debt," he told the press, suspecting that this could be about "a bigger internal game."

"I can't help but think that this is about a purchase for someone and in the name of something else, because who can afford to buy such a Vjesnik?"

The HND's and the Croatian Journalists Union's Vjesnik branches recalled that they had advocated that Vjesnik should become a public medium, for which they had the support of a part of the public and some government members.

Borkovic regretted that the government had not taken a clear position on Vjesnik's fate and recalled that in June, Vjesnik would celebrate its 72nd anniversary as the oldest Croatian newspaper.

She said Vjesnik's employees were recently given "a difficult choice - bankruptcy or suspicious privatisation."

The media have recently said that the British Oak Investment Management Group might buy Vjesnik. The Group is led by Nikola de Frankopan, into whom an investigation was requested last year on suspicion that, as the owner of the ruined brokerage company Apex Security, he did not repay a bank loan. The media have also reported that his family are "fake Frankopans", as there is no evidence that he is a descendant of the historic Croatian noble family.