Everything happening around Fortenova has nothing to do with the economy but is pure politics

After the sale of Sberbank’s stake in Fortenova to domestic pension funds failed, and this was due to the fact that the German members of the Supervisory Board of Allianz ZB opposed this obviously political purchase of shares in one of the largest companies in Croatia, Hanfa remembered that it could visit that ‘problematic’ company for managing pension funds.

Namely, as they announced yesterday, ‘an immediate supervision is underway over Allianz ZB d.o.o., a company managing mandatory and voluntary pension funds due to the manner of decision-making regarding the investment in Fortenova Group at the meeting of the Supervisory Board of the mentioned company.’

In response to Lider’s inquiry about what exactly is being investigated and supervised given that the company has withdrawn from the purchase, Hanfa reiterated that at this moment they cannot disclose details of the procedure and that after determining all circumstances regarding the results of the conducted procedure, they will inform the relevant state bodies.

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Danko Sučević

foto Lider Media

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– Hanfa is a regulatory body that supervises financial institutions and has the right to initiate supervision for a reason and without it, although I do not see any basis for this in the case of Allianz and the purchase of shares in Fortenova. It is obviously a matter of political pressure – said economic analyst Danko Sučević.

That politics is very much involved in this story is also shown by the stance of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who from the margins of the climate summit COP27 in Egypt stated that ‘pension funds, especially the AZ fund, will need to explain a lot.’

– Pension funds, especially the AZ fund, need to explain a lot, where everything that ultimately happened was completely contrary to what representatives of that fund said to the company and representatives of Croatian authorities – said Plenković, as reported by Hina, reminding that the government allowed an exception to the sanctions regime so that pension funds could buy Sberbank’s stake by October 31.

According to him, the plan that the pension funds had and presented to the government seemed reasonable and logical to them.

– This did not materialize, and now we have a situation that was beyond our influence, even knowledge – said Plenković. He stated that the situation in Ukraine accelerated Sberbank’s desire to exit Fortenova.

He also said that there is no special new knowledge about the transaction in which Sberbank’s stake was sold to an Arab investor and that reports from the relevant authorities collecting information are awaited. He added that the buyer did not seek approval from the relevant Croatian and Dutch authorities, and everything else is “currently unknown.” When asked if a “lex Fortenova” is being prepared, he answered negatively, adding that the ether is full of bad and unreasonable theses.

Be that as it may, many believe that the Germans have ‘saved our pensions.’

Pure Politics

Commenting on the situation in Fortenova, Sučević emphasized that it is a very indebted company that will find it difficult to operate independently, without investors. Fabris Peruško, the CEO of Fortenova Group, also emphasized in an interview with Večernji list that their ownership disputes certainly do not help them, that it would be incomparably easier to operate without them, and that this will certainly affect who and under what conditions they will refinance their debt.

Regarding the fact that the investor from the United Arab Emirates, Saif Alketbi, who bought 43 percent of Fortenova’s shares from Sberbank, did not conduct due diligence, which is often cited as evidence of his unseriousness, Sučević pointed out that HPB also did not conduct a thorough review when it took over Sberbank’s operations in Croatia.

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Damir Novotny

foto Dražen Lapić

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– It is up to the buyer whether they will conduct due diligence or not – says Sučević.

Economic analyst Damir Novotny believes that everything happening around Fortenova is moving out of the realm of economics and into the realm of pure politics. – And actually, this is a fundamental legal question – emphasized Novotny.

While waiting for the resolution of this ownership situation, the company will, Novotny emphasizes, suffer because it cannot access capital for refinancing debts that are due next year.