August 10 (SeeNews) - Montenegro’s finance minister Aleksandar Damjanovic said on Thursday that the healthcare and spa centre Institut Simo Milosevic [MNG:INSM] will not go into liquidation and that alternative solutions need to be found to service its debts.
“It was agreed that the Institute will not be declared bankrupt. We managed to prevent that scenario for the time being, and we agreed that the issue should be resolved as soon as possible,” Damjanovic said in an interview with public television RTCG.
“There is also a certain debt of Serbia that could partially offset this debt, we will raise this issue with the government. There is tax debt, there is debt to the Investment and Development Fund of Montenegro, there is debt to banks and suppliers. The total debt is around 30 million euro ($33.1 million). The Institute cannot operate in this way,” added Damjanovic.
Serbia is not interested in becoming part of the ownership structure but Serbia and Montenegro agreed for citizens with Serbian health insurance to be treated at the spa centre. Damjanovic also said that the state will consider acquiring a 100% stake in Institute Simo Milosevic, though this will not be a quick process.
“The Institute is 45% owned by shareholders. It is not easy to go through the process of purchasing those shares, but this would allow the Institute to turn into a public hospital,” said Damjanovic.
Hotel Vile Olive owns a 27.44% stake in Institute Simo Milosevic, the government's Investment and Development Fund owns 23.65% and 19.19% is held by the state. The remainder is in the hands of a number of minority shareholders.
Institut Simo Milosevic recorded a net loss of 5.3 million euro in 2022, after reporting a 5.5 million euro loss for 2021.
($ = 0.9073 euro)