The largest sports hall in Serbia will be named the Štark Arena.
The Belgrade Arena, the largest sports hall in Serbia, will be named the Štark Arena during the next five years. Its primary sponsor and the owner of the Štark brand is Croatia’s Atlantic Group, whose founder and majority owner is Emil Tedeschi. Atlantic was the only company which had sent a bid to the tender, although it was rumoured over the summer that Samsung and Huawei were favourites to win the naming rights, reports tportal.hr on October 13, 2017.
The sponsorship agreement will be concluded by the Belgrade Arena in the next 15 days, and it will regulate the rights and obligations in detail. In the search for a new sponsor, the Belgrade Arena launched a public tender this June. The Serbian media unofficially speculated that the Atlantic Group had offered a slightly smaller amount than the initially demanded 1.25 million euros.
“The Belgrade Arena will carry the name of a famous Serbian brand, and that is very important to us. In this building, major economic, political, entertainment and cultural events have been held, important for the city itself. There are few cities in Europe which have a more impressive facility than Belgrade,” said Siniša Mali, the Mayor of Belgrade, adding that substantial investments in the Arena were expected next year.
“We will invest in state-of-the-art equipment that will be ready for the Final Four tournament in May. The facility will have a media cube, a new sound system, and LED lighting,” he added.
Atlantic Group is satisfied with the outcome of the competition for the election of the primary sponsor of the Belgrade Arena. “Brands which Atlantic has in its portfolio have a long tradition of quality, and the special place belongs to Štark, a symbol of caring and friendship which has the recognisable symbol of a heart. The same values will be promoted in our partner project the Štark Arena,” said vice president of Atlantic Group Neven Vranković.
Tedeschi’s Atlantic Group owns several companies in Serbia, including Grand Prom, Soko Štark and Foodland, as well as the production facilities of Palanački Kiseljak and Multivita.
Translated from tportal.hr.
