The Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the Commercial Court, and rejected as unfounded the request of the Budva company "Merkur", the former tenant of the "Mogren" hotel, that the "Budvanska rivijera" hotel group pay them 1,2 million euros, with interest, for investments in the adaptation of that Budva hotel and "Kafta terassa".
After the verdict, which "Vijesti" had access to, the largest hotel company in Montenegro, majority owned by the state, can breathe a sigh of relief, because a negative court outcome, namely an amount exceeding two million euros with interest, would practically lead it to financial collapse.
A month ago, the Podgorica-based company "Zetagradnja" "withdrawn" about four million euros from the account of "Budvanska Riviera", following the ruling of the Court of Appeal in the dispute over the sale of land in Petrovac a decade and a half ago.
“Merkur” and “Budvanska rivijera” concluded a business and technical cooperation agreement in 1993, and the private company managed “Mogren”, one of the most beautiful hotels in the heart of Budva, opposite the Old Town, until 2013, when, after the contract expired, it was “expelled” from it by the decision of the tourist inspection and with strong police forces. After several eviction decisions, the inspection evicted the tenants in the height of the season, while the hotel workers and management refused to leave the hotel. Harrowing scenes of workers lying on the floors and police officers throwing them out, toured the region in the height of the 2013 summer season...
"Merkur" then initiated several lawsuits, worth several million euros, against HG "Budvanska rivijera".
"The judgment of the Commercial Court of March 7, 2025 is confirmed and the appeal of 'Mercur' DOO Budva in bankruptcy is dismissed as unfounded. And according to this court, the first instance court correctly decided when it dismissed the claim of 'Mercur' DOO in its entirety as unfounded. The Commercial Court correctly assessed the content of the Agreement on Business and Technical Cooperation, the annex, linking them with other written evidence and concluded that 'Mercur' DOO Budva and HG 'Budvanska rivijera' regulated their rights and obligations regarding the investment with the annex from 1999," states, among other things, in the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
The Commercial Court's ruling, which was confirmed, rejected the request of the "Merkur" company to be paid a total of 1993 euros for investments in the "Mogren" hotel in the period from 2004 to 1.136.759,13, with the corresponding interest from July 1, 2003 to January 1, 2010, and from then until payment with legal default interest.
The Commercial Court also rejected the request of the company "Merkur" to pay a total of 1995 euros for investments in "Kafe Terasa" from 2004 to 126.015,05, with interest from July 1, 2003 to January 1, 2010, and from then until payment with statutory default interest.
The management of the “Budvanska Riviera” recently announced, at a ceremony marking the opening of four reconstructed blocks of the “Slovenska plaža” Tourist Resort, in which 14 million euros were invested, that they would start a complete reconstruction of the “Mogren” hotel this fall, which would be “decorated” with a fifth star after the works were completed. One of the prerequisites for the works to begin is that the honorary consulate, whose honorary consul is Milan Mrvaljevic, owner of the company "Merkur".
"Budvanska Riviera" previously announced that they were ready to give up some of the other spaces they own to the Austrian Embassy for the space of the honorary consulate.
The reconstruction of the "Mogren" hotel should be carried out in two phases, the first phase involves the reconstruction of rooms and the construction of an indoor swimming pool, and the second phase involves the addition of one floor with apartments and the construction of an outdoor swimming pool.
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