The Omiš-based Studenac completed the ownership acquisition of the Kutina-based Lonia on Friday, and now follows a multi-month integration of Lonia stores into the Studenac system. As stated by Michał Wojciech Seńczuk, the CEO of Studenac, at this morning’s press conference, this process, which will also include the rebranding of Lonia stores to Studenac, will last until February or March of next year.
Lonia is already the fourth retail company that Studenac has acquired since the beginning of this year. The first was the Dubrovnik-based Pemo, followed by Kordun from Slunj, and just two weeks ago, Duravit from Pula. With these new acquisitions, Studenac has become the first retail chain in Croatia to have more than a thousand sales outlets. In comparison, the largest Croatian retail chain by revenue, Konzum, currently has around 625 stores.
The Polish fund Enterprise Investors, which acquired Studenac at the end of 2017, has so far invested more than 260 million euros in acquisitions and organic growth of the company. With 768 million kuna in revenue achieved last year, Lonia is the largest acquisition of Studenac to date, and it is possible that it will remain so, as there are no other large retail chains in Croatia primarily consisting of smaller store formats, which Studenac is developing, among potential acquisition targets.
The strategic direction of Studenac is, namely, the development of a unique ‘proximity format’ of stores, which, as Dragan Baškarad, a member of the Management Board for Operations, stated, implies a neighborhood store format, but in which the customer has access to ‘both small and significant’.
