We continue with the series on the most important acquisitions. After publishing last week the key highlights related to trends in the acquisition scene, we begin to publish the chronology of the one hundred most important and largest transactions since the beginning of the year.
-
ANCHOR AM acquired ownership of GASTRO GERILA from Donji Stupnik from Jušta Puharić. ANCHOR AM was founded in October 2021 by Zoran Balkić, Berislav Brajković and the company HUBER & ELMWOOD, and at the beginning of September, it also acquired the Osijek CSINGI LINGI CSARDU from Ines Šobote and Ivana Volarić.
-
FUTURA PARTNERS acquired ownership of the luxury interior design company SINAGO from Mokrica from Nikola Gadža. FUTURA PARTNERS is a new company founded in June by Saša Cvetojević, Luka Abrus Fijačko, Berislav Horvat, Josip Konjevod and FIDESTUM Filipa Jelića, and recently Ognjen Bagatin, Ivan Gabrić, and Zlatko Knezović joined the ownership structure. SINAGO has been operating at a loss for the last two years.
-
The Belgian company SD WORX PEOPLE SOLUTIONS acquired the Zagreb human resources company HR PRO from Suzana Skorić and Ivan Vitezić.
-
PROVECTUS CAPITAL PARTNERS (PCP), led by Igor Čičak, in addition to a series of acquisitions in the dental sector (see acquisitions under number 62), is doing similar business in the remaining part of private healthcare. As part of AVIVA MEDICAL GROUP, it acquired the specialized hospital ARITHERA from Zagreb. This was PCP’s fourth investment in private healthcare this year. Last year, it acquired POLIKLINIKA AVIVA from FORTENOVA, and this year the clinics DIJAGNOSTIKA 2000 and URO CENTAR, the SPECIAL HOSPITAL FOR ORTHOPEDICS AND GENERAL SURGERY ‘DR. NEMEC’ from Matulji, and ARITHERA. These institutions have been consolidated into AVIVA MEDICAL GROUP, which last year generated a total revenue of 96 million kuna and had about 170 employees.
-
The Japanese TOKAI LOGISTICS CO acquired ownership of the company KALI TUNA from the also Japanese J-TRADING.
-
The Austrian ANGELINA YACHT CHARTER HOLDING, with the help of its company LUCA, acquired 85 percent ownership of the Split charter company ULTRA from the Tomašević family. ANGELINA soon also acquired the company JADRANKA YACHTING from Mali Lošinj.
-
Maksim Kujundžić acquired ownership and the director position in SETINO INTERNATIONAL from Nebojša Ćorda and changed the company’s name to MAKSIM – KUJUNDŽIĆ.
-
The Zadar HSTEC changed its name to CHIRON CROATIA after the German company CHIRON GROUP SE acquired a majority stake. Mladen Šarlija remained a minority co-owner and continues to manage the company, while Željko Goja, Frano Marasović, and Miodrag Kula exited ownership.
-
The consumer electronics retail chain SANCTA DOMENICA was purchased by the largest Slovenian retailer in that sector, BIG BANG, from its founder and director Vesna Ramljak, which operates under ADVENTURA HOLDING and is part of the business empire of Darka Klariča, for whom this is not the first acquisition in Croatia. His company NOMAGO united large Slovenian bus operators, acquired the travel agency STA ZAGREB (now NOMAGO MOBILITY) three years ago, and also has the Pula bus carrier, the company BRIONI, in its portfolio. In addition to transport and trade, ADVENTURA is also involved in IT – MARG is among the leading Slovenian companies in the field of business digitization. It also owns MARINE PORTOROŽ, the largest on the Slovenian coast.
-
The Austrian FOCUS INVEST acquired ownership of the ZAGREB SHOPPING CENTER from the company EKZ ZAGREB ENTWICKLUNGS. TCZ manages WESTGATE, the largest shopping center in Croatia.
-
PIPELIFE INTERNATIONAL, an Austrian company owned by WIENERBERGER, acquired the majority ownership stake of Josip Brašnić and Nikica Brašnić in VARGON from Kukuljanovo, while the previous director remained as a co-owner at the head of the company.
-
The Israeli group TAAVURA, which operates in Croatia under the GRAND brand, acquired RENAULT-NISSAN HRVATSKA and renamed it GA CROATIA. This created the second-largest group in the car market; it represents Ford, Hyundai, Renault, Nissan, and Dacia. The constituent companies generated 2.3 billion kuna in revenue in 2021. The strongest is PORSCHE with 4.3 billion kuna.
-
Stjepan Talan, with the help of his SOLVIS, acquired ownership of another Varaždin company, VODOPIJA, from Zvonko Vodopija.
Sheikh Saif Alketbi from Dubai purchased about 43 percent of SBERBANK shares in FORTENOVA in Moscow. Everything happened rapidly after pension funds withdrew from the purchase. This transaction remains controversial as it has not been approved by regulatory bodies due to SBERBANK being under sanctions. Therefore, it is uncertain whether the new largest co-owner will be able to participate in the management of the company or if the purchase will be annulled.
ĐURO ĐAKOVIĆ GROUP announced last week that the Czech company DD ACQUISITION crossed the threshold of 75 percent of shares, or 82.12 percent of voting rights. Thus, a months-long operation to rescue the company through recapitalization, in which the Czech project company (established for this acquisition) invested about 230 million kuna, has concluded. The owners are Jaroslav Strnad (65 percent through his holding CE INDUSTRIES) and René Matera.
Simultaneously with the finalization of the acquisition of ĐURO ĐAKOVIĆ GROUP, the same Czech investor, CE INDUSTRIES of Jaroslav Strnad, sent a binding offer to the state to purchase 54.77 percent of shares in ULJANIK BRODOGRADNJA 1856 worth 155 million kuna.
The Russian NORDENERGOGRUPP lost ownership of the Slavonski Brod company ĐURO ĐAKOVIĆ THERMOENERGETIC PLANTS for the second time due to sanctions. Ownership was taken over by the Austrian company ANDRITZ AG. The company of Russian oligarch Aleksej Mordašov was first sanctioned in 2018. At that time, ownership was ‘parked’ in HALCYON ATLAS, registered in the British Virgin Islands. Last summer, Mordašov again took ownership of ĐURO ĐAKOVIĆ TEP, but due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and his closeness to Putin, he found himself under sanctions again.
The German SOLIDIAN completely acquired ownership of the Karlovac KELTEKS after Dubravka Keleković, the last co-owner from the founding family, left the ownership structure.
RICARDO from Darda acquired another transport company, ORAO from Osijek, from Mate Pipunića. ORAO generated 102 million kuna in revenue last year and employs 110 people. Even before this acquisition, RICARDO was the Croatian leader in truck transport, and now Milan Vrdoljaka‘s portfolio has grown to about 300 million kuna in annual revenue and 365 employees.
LIBUSOFT CICOM, which deals with the digitization of public administration, became part of IN2 GROUP at the beginning of November. This is not the only acquisition by IN2; in February, it acquired MCS GROUP from Branko Šoštarić. IN2 announces that they are still working on new potential partnerships and acquisitions.
PET NETWORK INTERNATIONAL acquired ownership of ZVJERINJAK from Sesvete from Helena Borko, a company that has six stores for pet food and supplies.
By signing a purchase agreement with the Turkish group YILDIRIM, the process of changing ownership of TERRA MINERAL FERTILIZERS (TMG), a company that has 54.52 percent of shares in PETROKEMIJA, began. TMG was established four years ago for the recapitalization of PETROKEMIJA, and equal partners are PRVO PLINARSKO DRUŠTVO Pavla Vujnovca and INA. YILDIRIM is a group fully owned by a family managed by the second generation, brothers Ali Riza and Robert Yuksel Yildirim. In addition to mineral fertilizers, it is involved in metallurgy and mining, port business, energy and fuel trading, logistics, international trade, construction and real estate, and financial services. It has business operations in 54 countries on five continents and employs more than 18,000 people.
SUNNYSIDE RESORT from Petrčane acquired ownership of Zadar’s HEDUS from the Zadar company TEHNO HOLDING of Siniša Colić. SUNNYSIDE RESORT is majority-owned (65 percent) by the Slovenian company ECM PARTNERJI, while 35 percent is held by Natalija Zrilić.
Darko Pervan, with the help of his company PERVANOVO, acquired a majority stake in the Požega SPIN VALIS (67.95 percent from the largest shareholders Zdravko Jelčić, Miljenko Katranček, Marko Žmira, and Vinko Pisarović). For this largest transaction in the industry, approval from AZTN is still needed, but there should be no issues with the new concentration in the dispersed wood industry.
The international hotel group BROWN HOTELS announced on Tuesday that it has become the new majority owner of JADRAN HOTELS from Rijeka. This acquisition pertains to seven hotels, two restaurants, and a tourist camp in the areas of Rijeka, Kostrena, and Kraljevica.
