The fallen basketball giant, Zagreb’s Cibona, is entering the privatization process, and the new majority owner should become Victor Dodig, a successful Canadian banker originally from Prolog near Ljubuški.
At the next session of the Zagreb City Assembly, there will be a proposal for a conclusion on the transformation of Cibona into a sports joint-stock company. This would officially open the process of restructuring the club, which, according to the current Law on Sports in Croatia, could be completed within a maximum of two months.
The goal of reshaping is debt recovery and business stabilizationafter which Cibona would get a new owner. According to Sportski novosti, Dodig has already started concrete steps in that direction.
Last month he was in Zagreb, where he spoke with key institutions related to the club’s future. He arrived in Zagreb with his son Thomas Dodig, a 28-year-old banker who he builds his career in New York. Thomas is already a member of the Cibona Assembly and is expected to play an active role in the management of the club.
The total value of the investment in the privatization process is estimated at 6.1 million euros, which includes the claims of the largest creditors. Dodig has already paid 1.9 million euroswhich will be converted into shares, and additionally, in accordance with the law, he secured another 1.7 million euros.
Thus, his total share in the new ownership structure would amount to around EUR 3.6 million, which, according to available information, would bring him majority package of 71.21 percent ownership.
Victor George Dodig was born in 1965, and is known to the general public as the long-time president of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which he led from 2014 to 2025. He recently took a leading position in the Canadian telecommunications giant Telus.
His family originates from Herzegovina. Father Veselko Dodig immigrated to Canada in 1961, and more than six decades later his son became a key figure in the attempt to revive one of the most trophy-winning basketball clubs in the region.
Whether this move will mark the beginning of a new chapter for Cibona remains to be seen, but one thing is certain – the club is entering the most important transformation in its recent history, reports Hercegovina.info.
(www.jabuka.tv | Photo: Srecko Nikolic/Pixsell)
