Oh, what a Hanfa!

Carelessness is a faithful companion of arrogance. If it weren’t for the euphoria of ‘shareholding’ that swept Ante Perković, Marijan Ruždjak, Boženko Lozo, Ivan Perković, Željko Vidaković, Božo Medić, the Crlenjak family, Michael Ljubas, and others, they would not now be struggling to find the necessary millions of kuna for public offers. However, if you are worried about the unfortunate people who have suddenly faced severe misfortune, there is no need for fear. Although Hanfa pretends to be a strict policeman, it becomes tragically comical how little value its decisions hold.

Every now and then, Hanfa triumphantly announces on its website (after months of investigation and analysis) that certain individuals acted jointly and, lo and behold, carelessly crossed the magical threshold of 25 percent of shares, which obliges them to make a public offer to other shareholders. The strictness that emanates from the bureaucratic lines of these decisions is matched by the casualness felt in the behavior of those who have strayed in their zealous collection of shares. ‘We, if we acted together, we don’t even know each other!’ respond the most shameless ones, denying notorious facts. The more composed ones, however, confidently and without hesitation state that they have absolutely no intention of complying with the orders of the fearsome Hanfa, with a remark in the style of ‘that’s a long stick.’

The latest to be nailed to the shame pole on Hanfa’s website is the former CEO of Badel 1862, Ante Perković, for whom this regulatory agency determined that in October he ‘got carried away’ and, together with Ruždjak, Lozo, and Ivan Perković, held 40 percent of the shares, which greatly exceeds the allowed threshold. The accused, of course, deny that they acted together. One of the more prominent sagas with an unwanted public offer is that in the fallen Kamensko, where after everything, a hunger strike of helpless workers has come to the fore. Vidaković and his associates, who are used to operating without excessive regulations, are trying in every possible way to sabotage the announcement of an offer that would cost them around 20 million kuna. Fortunately, while all forms of appeals and objections and all judicial instances are exhausted in Croatia, some time passes.

The master of procrastination is the controversial Michael Ljubas, who after years still has not made an offer for shares of Elektropromet. Pardon, a valid offer, because he did make one, but it didn’t take long to determine that something crucial was accidentally missing from the documents. Ljubas has remained so arrogant that after Hanfa revoked his voting rights at the shareholders’ meeting (which is considered the greatest punishment), he voted for a loyal Supervisory Board and Management that led the company to bankruptcy. The Fižulić family also played with collecting shares of Magma, but they decided to drag things through the courts, so whoever experiences the final outcome, has done well. The man made a mistake and accidentally bought shares in his name. If he truly feared committing an offense in the process, he might have thought twice. As it stands, he simply concluded that he lives in a country where much greater misdeeds are allowed.

When everything is considered, current and future actors have no reason to be less arrogant and careless. Why would they be naive enough to follow the rules? If they even thought that they could be honest for some reason, the fact that it would cost them quite a bit, and that in practice there are no sanctions for inaction, quickly dissuaded them. Helpless Hanfa has no choice but to advise other shareholders to sue the offenders in commercial court and, if they win, ultimately initiate enforcement against the would-be offerors. Or perhaps they should hope that the ‘careless’ shareholders will fear public condemnation?