DANKO KONCAR A multi-millionaire with ambitions for an affirmation in Croatia, photographed while visiting the Brodosplit shipyard — there is word he is looking to buy one of the Adriatic shipyardsDanko Koncar, a mysterious multimillionaire who currently resides for the most part in London, wants to significantly strengthen his influence in Croatian society, Nacional has learned from informed legal and business sources. According to these sources Koncar has demonstrated an interest for a serious investment in the publishing sector, and he is currently interested in finding out whether it is possible to buy a stake in the largest Croatian publisher, Europapress holding (EPH), which publishes the daily newspapers Jutarnji list and Slobodna Dalmacia, the weeklies Gloria and Globus and many other print media editions.

Koncar is a businessman who hails from Zagreb, and sparked public interest in 2009 when word first got out that he could be a serious investor into Croatia's battered shipyards. We learned then that he has been dubbed the King of Chrome, as the owner of various mines in the South African Republic, and there were reports of his significant wealth, earned in Russia in the 1990s, although he has never himself spoken of the scope and origin of his wealth in detail. Koncar's interest for Europapress holding is probably more than a passing one, as his associates have allegedly gone a step further and launched due diligence of Europapress holding's books.

The word is that a legal team led by the lawyer Anto Nobilo is conducting due diligence of the situation at Europapress holding. Ivana Nobilo Cetinski, who leads public relations for Danko Koncar, rather tepidly denied the information for Nacional, while Stipe Oreskovic, chair of the board of directors at EPH, called the information a rumour, and explicitly denied it. Contrary to them, among others, the information was also confirmed for Nacional by people close to Miroslav Kutle. Over the past year and a half Kutle and his legal aids have as a rule been very well informed about what is going on at EPH, as they are themselves leading serious negotiations on the final outcome of the ownership situation at the publishing house. They are involved because, besides the nominal co-owners Ninoslav Pavic and the German WAZ, Miroslav Kutle is also claiming significant ownership rights to EPH.

People close to Miroslav Kutle say that attorney Anto Nobilo has been engaged for about a month on the due diligence at EPH. The practice in these situations is that nobody in this phase of possible changes to the ownership structure will directly confirm this. As a rule these situations are not commented, or denied, as both sides sign a non-disclosure agreement ahead of the due diligence at EPH, i.e. a contract on the confidentiality of their relationship and that information on a possible transaction will not be revealed, or any other confidential information that could be detrimental to EPH operations.

EPH is the largest domestic publisher, which has as a result of the recession and various other reasons that can be brought into connection with the questionable quality of the company's leadership, found itself in a rather challenging situation vis-à-vis its operations. The company's exposure to banks is estimated at over 120 million euro, and revenues from the sale of print issues, and those from marketing, have dropped significantly of late as a result of the recession. That has led to a need to streamline operations, which EPH is making a serious effort to do. At the same time the lack of transparency in the negotiation saga with Miroslav Kutle over his ownership rights has become exhausting for the co-owners, and Germany's WAZ is increasingly under fire from the press in the region as a result of its business relations with some people that have serious problems with the law, which WAZ claims are a thing of the past. In spite of all these problems, a stake in EPH gives the owners significant influence in Croatian society. This influence is by all accounts of interest to Koncar, and the challenges facing the owners of EPH could work in Koncar's favour because the company needs fresh capital which, it appears, is not a problem for Koncar.

Koncar has already shown an interest in the media industry in Croatia. Koncar's company Kermas Investment has a partnership with Mirko Cetinski and his company Arting radio. In an interview for the Glas Istre daily Koncar said that Mirko Cetinski's company, which he supports as a partner, aims to expand and develop in the media space to radio, TV and the print media. The expansion was to have started with the purchase of a stake in Glas Istre. Mirko Cetinski recently paid 1.8 million euro to a third of the co-owners of this Istria County regional daily. That was to have secured a 33 percent stake in Glas Istre. The transaction has been made, but approval is still pending for the registry of this stake in the company. Various murky ownership relations have also recently begun to unwind in the company. As things now stand Koncar and Cetinski may have thrown their money to the wind because Istrian businessman Albert Faggian transferred the operations of Glas Istre to some daughter companies that a company under his control bought for only a few kuna.

VINKA AND MIRKO CETINSKI (in the photo with their son Matteo) have a partnership with Danko Koncar — through Mirko Cetinski's company Koncar tried to take an ownership stake in Glas Istre, but the investment is now in dangerThere have been a number of meetings held of late concerning these dubious transactions, and at some of the meetings Koncar participated in, Istria County Prefect Ivan Jakovcic also made an appearance. Jakovcic justified his presence at these meetings saying that government-owned companies had lent Glas Istre a total of 10 million kuna, and he is therefore interested in seeing the situation resolved. Jakovcic has of late demonstrated nervousness when local journalists began asking questions about his role in the lack of transparency in Glas Istre operations.

He called the reporter who asked the question "garbage". Those informed in local affairs say that under a veil of concern for Glas Istre Jakovcic wants to retain his influence over the newspaper because of its influence on voters ahead of the upcoming elections. It is possible that in that context the influence of Danko Koncar and Mirko Cetinski in Glas Istre is not welcome. In spite of it all Koncar has by all accounts not abandoned the idea of investing into the media industry. He is investing discreetly and is not given to public exposure. In collaboration with Mirko and Vinka Cetinski, Koncar has purchased over a thousand hectares of land in Istria County, and has also invested in the purchase of land on the island of Cres. He claims to have invested over a 100 million euro in Croatia to date. Most of that land is agricultural, and he has also bought some abandoned villages and houses, which he intends to refurbish and rent out to high-paying tourists.

Koncar is counting on setting up some one thousand countryside villas, and that guests of these vacation homes would spend 3 thousand euro a month at the most modest calculation, which would mean revenues of 36 million euro a year if he succeeds in extending the tourism season year-round. On route to implementing these projects, Koncar has invested in Istria County in planting olive groves and vineyards. He has planted 750 olive trees in the vicinity of Vodnjan. Koncar has already invested in the wine business. He purchased the Agro Ferneti company, brought in new experts and is preparing to rename his wines under the Capo moniker. He claims to have invested a million euro in modern technology and wooden barrels, all carried out for him by Vinka and Mirko Cetinski.

Danko Koncar became known to the Croatian public at large when just over a year ago he announced that he would try to salvage tottering Croatian shipyards with his capital. For a time former Government spokesman Ratko Macek worked as his lobbyist and advisor. Some politicians say that this explains why then Deputy Prime Minister Damir Polancec was particularly inclined towards a Koncar investment. In the meantime Koncar has picked up a major stake in the Uljanik plovidba shipping company, and said he would buy up tender documentation for shipyards facing restructuring.

His statements to the effect that he intends to make a serious investment in shipbuilding indicates that he has ambitions to become a major Croatian business figure. By investing in shipbuilding Koncar would significantly help the Croatian economy, mitigate some of the social welfare issues, and quicken Croatian accession to the EU. It would all bolster his social standing in Croatia, and the press can facilitate the creation of a positive perception of him in the public ahead of these investments, especially if he puts money into some. Because of his operations in South Africa Koncar has frequently been labelled in the press as the "King of Chrome", but Koncar himself has to this day remained quite secretive about the origins of his wealth.

During an earlier interview for Nacional Koncar, when asked why he had decided to invest in shipbuilding, had said that, "The reasons are not just economic, and I do not wish to delve into the private ones." He was also secretive when speaking of his own biography, saying that it was a very long one, but that the only important thing was that he was born in Zagreb, where he graduated from university, earning a master's degree and a doctorate in electronics, that he, "began earning serious money with a lot of luck," and that the secret of his success was that he had "learned to find information that was not available and process it well."

Up to 2006 Danko Koncar was entirely unknown in Croatia. His name began appearing in some media only when former Minister Vinka Cetinski started buying up real estate in Istria County, and the 70-hectare lot of the former caravan park at Osor on the island of Cres. Subsequently, in 2007, the Serbian media reported that Koncar had purchased the former Beograd children's resort and a property in Zencisce Bay near Jelsa on the island of Hvar from the Directorate for the Property of the Republic of Serbia for 6.25 million euro.

IVANA NOBILO CETINSKI The spokesperson for Danko Koncar, speaking for Nacional denied that Koncar was interested in buying a stake in Europapress holdingDanko Koncar is usually depicted by the media as a multimillionaire that left Croatia some 20 years ago, and subsequently gained his riches after acquiring chrome mines in Russia and South Africa. The only visible stain on his career is from 1977 when, as a 35-year-old engineer, he worked at what was then the Jugoturbina company in Karlovac. Koncar was sentenced to a couple of years in jail for abuse of position and illicit material gain after holding on to foreign currency the factory had earned abroad. He prepared his doctoral thesis while in prison, and after being released went back to his job at Jugoturbina. As he told Nacional, he found employment in the late 1980s at the newly established branch office of the South Korean company Lucky Goldstar (now LG).

The company soon moved its office to Vienna, and he was offered a move to Austria or a solid severance package. With the severance package money in his pocket, Koncar first went to Germany, and then at the start of the 1990s to Russia. The fifteen or so years he spent in Russia are the most enigmatic part of Koncar's biography. He became massively rich during that time, and in the end started returning a part of this wealth through investments to Croatia, where he hooked up with the Cetinski family. His public relations are run by their daughter-in-law Ivana Nobilo Cetinski, and her father, attorney Anto Nobilo, has been mentioned as the head of the legal team that has started looking into the books of Croatia's largest publisher EPH. In spite if it all, it remains uncertain whether Koncar will in the end express a formal interest for a major stake in EPH or lend a hand to the tottering Croatia shipbuilding industry.