Montenegro is a staggeringly beautiful, mountain statelet on the coast of the Adriatic, only just more than half the size of Wales with a population of 660,000, slightly more than that of Glasgow. It has been an independent state only since 2006, when its people voted in a referendum to sever their union with Serbia. It is probably best known to the British public as the supposed setting of the film Casino Royale, though most of it was actually shot in the Czech Republic.
Uniquely for a sovereign state, Montenegro has no currency. All transactions are conducted in euros though it is not in the EU or the eurozone.
Porto Montenegro is a Luxury yacht marina and adjacent waterfront development currently under construction in Tivat(CAVTAT), Montenegro.
The construction site was a naval shipyard named Arsenal, which fell into disuse after the Yugoslav Wars and the decline of the SFR Yugoslav Navy. The attractive lot on which the shipyard is situated was put on public offering in 2006, and was bought by Canadian businessman Peter Munk Munk, chairman of Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. It was acknowledged in 2008 that he was not alone in the venture – while Munk owns 54% of the Porto Montenegro company, the rest is owned by Oleg Deripaska, Nathaniel Rothschild, Jacob Rothschild, Bernard Arnault, Sandro Demijan and Anthony Munk.
Super Yacht Queen K belong to Billionaire Oleg Deripaska
Super Yacht Amadeus belong to Billionaire Bernard Arnault
Another guest of Nat Rothschild
Michael Evans owner of Evans Property Group brought his yacht the White Rose of Drachs
Billionaire Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was also a guest, had his yacht Luna in nearby port of Dubrovnik
Among the guests was the former prime minister of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, who gave the go-ahead to the development a few years ago after flying over the area in a helicopter with Peter Munk, the billionaire head of the world’s largest gold company and the marina’s majority investor.
Guests came from the worlds of fashion, high finance, politics, commodities and even royalty.
They included Lord Mandelson, the former business secretary, who stayed on Sveti Stefan, a fortified 15th century village on an island just down the coast which has been converted into a five-star boutique resort where suites can cost up to 2,500 euros a night.
He rubbed shoulders with Eddie Jordan, the Formula One driver, who owns an apartment overlooking the marina and the Wimbledon tennis champion Novak Djokovic, who has also just bought a luxury flat and keeps a yacht in the marina.
Tamara Mellon, the British co-founder of the Jimmy Choo luxury shoe brand, and Sasha Volkova, Ukrainian supermodel, were also at the party.
The one royal guest was believed to be King Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi, the leader of the 300,000 strong Royal Bafokeng Nation, a semi-autonomous tribal area in South Africa which is rich in platinum – another contact from Mr Rothschild’s interests in minerals.
Another mining billionaire, Robert Friedland of Canada’s giant Ivanhoe Mines, was also on the guest list. His company’s plan to exploit gold and copper deposits in Mongolia’s Gobi desert sparked civil unrest when local groups complained there had been a lack of environmental assessment.
Blackstone billionaire Steve Schwarzman, Princess Firyal of Jordan and billionaire Nicolas Berggruen was also on the guest list.
Egypt’s richest family, the Sawiris, were also there – checking out the competition, in the light of the fact that they are building a £1 billion marina and hotel development on the other side of the Bay of Kotor, one of the largest harbours on the Adriatic coast.
The guest list was meant to be secret but was thought to have included the historian Niall Ferguson and his Dutch-Somali wife, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, members of the Guinness and Goldsmith families, Tony Hayward, the former BP boss whose name was tarnished by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Roland Rudd, the head of the public relations firm Finsbury and Princess Florence von Preussen, 27, the great-great granddaughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who has an “on and off” relationship with Mr Rothschild.
Hotel Sveti Stefan in Montenegro hosted part of the lavish three-day party
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