The county counselors in Brasov, central Romania voted unanimously on Tuesday to form a commission to analyze the capacity of local authorities to buy the Bran Castle south of the city, notorious as the so-called “Dracula’s castle”, after the House of Habsburg demanded 60 million euro to sell it to the Brasov District Council.
The new commission is due to analyze the financial capacity to buy the asset, to name an audit company to evaluate the investment and to launch negotiations with the current owners of the castle.
The Habsburgs regained the rights over the Bran Castle, one of Romania’s most valuable tourism attractions, in a retrocession process but allowed the Romanian state to continue using it as a museum for a two-year period.
Brasov District Council head Aristotel Cancescu announed he had already contacted four of the major world audit companies - BDO Conti Audir, Delotte&Touche, PWC and KPMG to evaluate the property.
That comes as the Romanian Culture Ministry said it considered the amount of money claimed by the Habsburgs to be too much. Cancescu believes however that the Bran Castle brand is worth the price.
In order to buy the asset, the District Counil plans to pay some 2.7 million euro in the first two years and access a leasing loan from an Austrian bank to pay the rest in a ten-year period.
HotNews.ro, Jan 16, 2007
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