Its first president was Gregor Golobič, former Secretary General of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia and former close advisor to the late Janez Drnovšek, who had previously abandoned active political involvement due to disagreements with his party.

From November 2008 till October 2011, Zares was part of the centre-left government led by Social Democrats party president Borut Pahor.

According to allegations, the company had some 21 million euro of unsecured loans at the state-owned Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB).

Lahovnik, at the time Minister of Economy, mentioned Golobič's alleged misuse of political influence in order to favor his business partners as one of the reasons for his break with the party.

[16] As a response, Golobič demanded that Lahovnik step down from his position of Minister of Economy and qualified his behavior as "Brutus-like", that is, treacherous.