BANJA LUKA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), March 8 (SeeNews) – The government of Bosnia's Serb Republic is negotiating the sale of a stake in ski resort Jahorina to Serbia's state-owned skiing infrastructure maintenance company Skijalista Srbije, local media reported on Tuesday.
The government, representatives of the ski resort and municipal officials will discuss a possible deal on Wednesday during, news portal Blic.rs reported, quoting the Serb Republic's tourism minister Predrag Gluhakovic.
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Gluhakovic also said that the deal should be completed by the next winter season, adding that the stake in Jahorina ski resort could attract other potential buyers besides Skijalista Srbije.
"We have signed a memorandum of understanding with Skijalista Srbije. They have shown interest towards making an investment and negotiations have begun, but its all up to the governments of the Serb Republic and Serbia," the director of the ski resort, Velibor Lazarevic, told Blic.rs.
In December, the Bosnian municipality of Pale said it has signed a protocol on cooperation with Russian consortium MB Capital for the construction of a 20,000 sq m aparthotel in Jahorina mountain.
Earlier in 2015, the government of the Serb Republic and the municipality of Pale conducted a land swap deal to allow the Russian investors to expand their initial construction plans.
The deal, under which the municipality of Pale received a vacant plot designated for construction in exchange for an urbanized plot in the Jahorina ski resort, allows the Russians to expand a land plot they already own and build a modern hotel complex, the municipal authorities said at the time.
Ski resort Jahorina is located southeast of Bosnia's capital Sarajevo, within the Serb Republic - one of two autonomous entities that form Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Muslim-Croat Federation.