Miroljub Aleksic, owner of Alco Group - EUR 35 million for hotel in Arandjelovac

Source: eKapija Monday, 23.05.2011. 16:29
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Miroljub AleksicMiroljub Aleksic

After taking a significant position in the fields of production, trade, finance, planning, and construction, Alco Group is paying more and more attention to hotel business. The head of that group, which owns the first Serbian hotel chain A Hoteli, says that the group invests the profit it makes in other branches of economy in hotels. In an interview for eKapija, Miroljub Aleksic talks about planned investments, reasons why "foreign capital" is given priority in Serbia, and other things.

eKapija: You have made a risky move by opening a five-star hotel outside Belgrade and standard tourist centers such as Zlatibor and Kopaonik. The investment you've made in a 32,000-square-meter complex is obviously much higher than the one you promised to make when taking it over?

- We have invested as much as 350 times more money than we were obliged to. The investment has already reached the amount of EUR 35 million, exclusive of what we are investing in the construction of an aqua park next to the hotel.

ekapija: How much have you set aside for the aqua park and is it going to be finished before the summer season?

- Its construction is already close to end. I hope it will be opened in mid-July when Bukovicka spa resort celebrates the 200th birthday. Between 5 and 6 million euros will be invested in that aqua park, which is expected to be the largest in the region. I believe it will be appealing enough to attract guests from Belgrade and other cities in Serbia. We should not forget that Bukovicka spa resort in the municipality of Arandjelovac is the nearest spa to Belgrade. That is another reason for us to start developing spa and wellness tourism here.

Izvor Hotel (Photo: A hoteli)Izvor Hotel

eKapija: There are several facilities in Arandjelovac that are under protection of the state and are either closed or making losses. If the state decides to sell hotels Sumadija and Staro Zdanje, will you be interested in buying them?

- It depends on the offer. It would be better if some new serious investor appeared because the tourist offer of a spa resort cannot be formed by one company only. We would like to have a competition here, which would happen if a serious tourist company or hotel group showed up ready to invest a lot of money in the reconstruction works.

Then, even if you invest that money, the question of commercial effects arises because these facilities are over 100 years old, they are quite neglected and cannot be reconstructed but, literally, rebuilt from the scratch. On the other hand, the number of rooms within these hotels is quite small and, even with fantastic occupancy, it is uncertain when that investment would pay off.

eKapija: Since we are speaking about hotel business, are there any projects other than Izvor hotel that Alco Group has invested in?

- We are close to end the construction of Tornik resort hotel on Zlatibor mountain, as well as the construction of Sloboda hotel in Sabac and Park hotel in Vrnjacka Banja spa. In that way, in addition to Izvor hotel and Master hotel in Novi Sad, our chain will soon include three more hotels.

eKapija: And what about your operations in other branches of economy?

- We are primarily engaged in production, particularly in the food industry, but we also invest in the packaging industry and investment construction (we rent out the space that we own). We will definitely focus on hotels in the forthcoming period, but we invest in that business only the profit we make in other branches.

eKapija: In early 2009 you were mentioned as someone who was buying the largest number of shares, thus taking over several companies? Was that investment at the time of the crisis a good move?

- From our point of view, it was, but, on the other hand, there are various government lobbies who were not happy with what we were doing. One of such lobbies is the Securities Commission. We were of the opinion that, since foreign investors were leaving the domestic market, we should become significant investors in those companies. We wanted to invest domestic capital in the development of domestic economy. But it seems that our views are different.

eKapija: You were criticized the most for trying to take over a majority stake in Vranje-based Alfa Plam through the company Amasis?

- We now own a 24.99-percent stake in Alfa Plam. We wanted to take over a majority stake, but the Securities Commission did not allow that. The situation is similar in banking business. It seems that all those whose last names are ending in "ic" are not welcome, while foreigners are accepted at once.

Which companies are part of Alco Group?

- Plants that operate within Alco Group are: Pionir (in Subotica, Paracin, and Belgrade), Hissar in Prokuplje, Tipoplastika in Gornji Milanovac, Intersilver in Zemun, Kostana in Vranje, FOS in Surdulice. The group also comprises trade companies Amasis, Jugotehna, and Cobex in Belgrade, as well as Nis-based Autopromet.

When it comes to the construction industry, Alco Group operates through the company Nas Stan, while its broker company Alco Broker is in charge of finance. The group also holds stakes in several banks in Serbia and operates in the tourism industry through aforementioned A Hoteli hotel chain.

J.Đ.

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