The insolvency officer, Štefan Ščap, has found that HK Jesenice owes a total of around 2 million euros to different creditors. Sold for 125-times the starting price The only asset that has remained is the legendary HK Jesenice trademark. It was sold at today’s auction in Murska Sobota by the insolvency officer.

He offered a starting price of 1.200 euros to the seven bidders – mostly from Jesenice and the Gorenjska region. Among the bidders was also one of the bigger creditors, former player Tomaž Razinger – the club still owes him more than 110 thousand euros. However, just before the start Razinger decided to withdraw from the auction, following a tacit agreement according to which the trademark was to be bought by Jesenice-based company Acroni. But it did not turn out the way the Jesenice bidders expected.

A businessman from Ljubljana, Boris Požeg, offered the most for the HK Jesenice trademark – a sum of 150 thousand euros. This is what Požeg had to say: "I decided to make the purchase because I’m a hockey lover and because it’s a very interesting trademark." He also stated that despite being from Ljubljana, he was prepared to help the rise of ice hockey in Jesenice again, noting "if they will let me." Požeg is otherwise the head of a Ljubljana-based company for catering, tourism and production called MPB 4, which deals with the production and sale of ice cream.

The new HDD Jesenice ready to cooperate
The president of the current Jesenice ice hockey club, HDD SIJ-Acroni Jesenice, Anže Pogačar, was also at the auction. Anže Pogačar said: "The result of the auction is a bit of shock for us. We all appreciate the tradition of Jesenice’s ice hockey, but we could not afford to pay such a high price for the trademark. We hope to be able to cooperate with the new owner of the trademark. It is vital for Slovenian ice hockey to have two strong professional clubs - Olimpija and Jesenice."

Bojan Peček, TV Slovenija; translated by K. J.