Mickoski: interested bank will buy Alta Banka AD Bitola, preventing bankruptcy

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said on Monday that a financial institution has expressed interest in acquiring Alta Banka AD Bitola, a move he presented as a way to avoid the bank entering bankruptcy.

Speaking to reporters while visiting Ohrid, Mickoski said the prospective buyer would become the new owner of Alta Banka and that saving the bank was important for its creditors and for people who have relations with the bank.

Opposition criticism and the buyer

"We have a financial institution, a bank that will be the owner of ‘Alta banka‘. So we will save the bank, that is very important both for the creditors and for the people who are in some relation with the bank. That is bad news for our opposition which prayed and on a daily basis ran a campaign that the bank would go bankrupt, would enter liquidation and so on," Mickoski said.

Mickoski added that Davor Macura, the owner of Alta Banka AD Belgrade, had met the conditions to acquire Stopanska Banka Bitola.

The prime minister framed the announcement as a rebuttal to opposition claims and as reassurance to depositors and other stakeholders ahead of any formal transaction process.

Photo: SDK.MK)