Montenegro’s entry into NATO means a lot for investors and the security of their investment, and will certainly be an incentive for the inflow of new foreign capital, says Petros Stathis, one of the biggest investors in Montenegro in the last decade, whose companies employ over 1.000 people in Montenegro.
Stathis, who received Montenegrin passport, rarely gives statements to the media, regardless of the fact that he is majority owner of some of them. However, after several months of insistence by the editorial board of Dnevne Novine, he agreed to answer a few questions regarding current hot topics in Montenegro.
DN: Entry into NATO surely sets the direction in which Montenegro will grow, but does embracing the modern West and its values also mean a boost of investments?
Stathis: This means that people who come to Montenegro can know, with certainty, which values were chosen by this country as long-term choice. Joining NATO means embracing a whole set of standards that apply in the Western world, and that is primarily the fight against corruption, safe investments and policies that accompany them; a system of values where the investment is secured means all those who invest, who work for it, who live from it and who create capital are safe as well. The last thing investors want is to not know whether the same rules will apply tomorrow and whether adopted values will change overnight. After accession to NATO and with the long clear commitment of Montenegro to join the EU, accepting its standards, these things will, in my opinion, be locked in the very best way imaginable.
DN: Your latest major investment, Hotel Maestral, is considered one of the pearls on the Montenegrin coast. How is the investment going and when it will be completed?
Stathis: Soft opening of Maestral will happen on June 1, just as planned, but the official opening is scheduled for July 1. We invested 22.5 million euros in reconstruction, after we paid 32 million to purchase the hotel, which puts the total of our investment at EUR 54 million. This means Maestral will now be a proper 5-star hotel. Maestral will also have one of most exclusive casinos in the Balkans, and a first casino in Montenegro to become member of the European Casino Association. Maestral is a project finished within the deadline, thanks to both our commitment and the efficiency of state administration, because as an investor, you want to start earning back your invested money as soon as possible. It seems as though people in Montenegro came to realize this, and I am sure that they will, perhaps sooner than they think, feel the benefits of doing business without overwhelming bureaucracy and other business barriers.
Maestral was a very demanding project because as an old hotel, although in a great location, it was designed according to different standards, old standards of that time, and this was the reason why it was extremely difficult to bring it into the 5-star category that it deserves. Our plan is to make Maestral into an even greater symbol of Montenegrin tourism, to significantly increase its revenues and attract a new high-class clientele that never visited Montenegro before and perhaps does not even know about its amazing and unique beauty. We wish to bring guests with a lot of spending money, from new and very rich markets.
DN: The public is unofficially mentioning that you did some business with Mr. Daka Davidovic, who is now under investigation for illegally financing opposition.
Stathis: I do business, not politics. I cooperated very successfully with Mr. Davidovic as his company was hired as contractors to finish some of the works on Sveti Stefan and in Podgorica, and it was one of the most professionally handled operations I have seen in Montenegro so far. I do believe all claims against him will be proven incorrect and that charges will be dropped so that he would continue to do his business successfully. He is a religious man, we built the church at Sveti Stefan together, and his connection to such accusations is incomprehensible to me.
DN: Speaking of accusation, Paul Phua was a hot topic of certain Montenegrin media outlets. Their allegations turned out to be false, but is he really your partner?
Stathis: Yes he is, and trust me, it’s a privilege for Montenegro to have a person like Paul as investor. We are now partners in Hotel Maestral, and we are finalizing our partnership in Adriatic Properties. His funds were very important for the successful completion of our works. We paid out the complete debt to EBRD, given to us for the reconstruction of Sveti Stefan.
As far as the accusations against him go, I would like to say what I said before: I believed in his innocence, and I was right. Certain politically-oriented media accused me of all kinds of things, even before I decided to invest in the media industry here. But they did more damage to the country than to me. I invest in companies that employ over 1.000 families in Montenegro, through projects that promote your country all over the world, in areas where best investments are needed. I promised long-term investments and I hope many similar projects are ahead of us.
