Home / Business and Politics / Polish Enterprise Investors Sells Intersport

Polish Enterprise Investors Sells Intersport

The Polish fund Enterprise Investors, which a few years ago acquired the company Intersport ISI and the chain of sports equipment stores Intersport in Slovenia and the region from Mercator, is seeking a new owner for its investment, reports Slovenian Finance.

Enterprise Investors is one of the largest private equity companies in Central and Eastern Europe, and since its establishment in 1990, it has raised funds for nine funds with a capital value of over 2.5 billion euros. These funds have invested 2.2 billion euros in 151 companies from various sectors, and through exits from 135 companies, they have achieved a return of 4.2 billion euros.

Enterprise Investors has in its Croatian portfolio the retail chain Studenac, the bakery industry Pan Pek, and the chain of sports equipment stores Intersport. The Polish private equity fund Enterprise Investors began its foray into Croatia in 2018 by acquiring Studenac. After that, it initiated an acquisition spree through Studenac. First, in 2019, Studenac acquired the Zadar-based Sonik and Istrian supermarkets. After that, it also acquired the Bura store from Biograd, which increased its portfolio revenues by around two hundred million kuna, and this year its revenues will further increase due to the (so far) three new acquisitions – Dubrovnik’s Pemo, Slunj’s Kordun, and Kutina’s Lonija.

When this fund arrived in Croatia, it announced that it had a fund of half a billion euros available for investment in the Adriatic region. According to portfolio data from its website, in these four years in the Adriatic region, the fund has only remained in Croatia, at Pan Pek (of which it has been a hundred percent owner since 2018) and Studenac. From this, it can be concluded that for new acquisitions in Croatian retail, it has several hundred million euros available.

As for Intersport, the sales process has not yet begun, but according to some predictions, the sale could be realized in the second half of this year.

Intersport has more than 140 stores in the region, including markets in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia.