In the New Issue, Read About Domestic Entrepreneurs Taking Over More and More Slovenian Companies

Slovenian Iskra has taken over Elka. Petrol Crodux, Iskraemeco Holosys, Bing Bang Sancta Domenica, Halcom Insite… CIAK Group has also acquired Potokar, M SAN Alterna distribution, Keindl Sport Energy, Stanić Beverages brands Sola and Zala from Pivovarna Laško Union… This is just part of the Slovenian-Croatian acquisitions in the last two years, but it indicates that on both sides of the Sutla, after a kind of lull, acquisition appetites have increased. Despite Slovenia’s principal dominance in terms of total investment amounts, Croatia has begun to catch its breath after leaving the war behind. Up until the great economic crisis of 2008, Slovenians were very agile in acquisitions in Croatia, and then, due to financial problems of local companies, the wheel of fortune turned in the other direction. The impression is that currently, greater interest in acquisitions is coming from the Croatian side, which is discussed in the topic of the week by Antonija Knežević.

The International Monetary Fund, a global institution that undoubtedly has the greatest authority among all financial institutions, recently promoted Croatia as the 41st member of the exclusive global club of advanced economies. The IMF did not classify Croatia among the world’s economic powers because it assessed that it had significantly jumped out of the group of developing economies, but mechanically, because it joined the eurozone on January 1, which is one of the subgroups that the IMF treats in its analyses as part of advanced economies. Thus, the April edition of the IMF’s ‘World Economic Outlook’ can be considered Croatia’s official entry among the twenty percent of the most developed countries in the world. However, the truth is that Croatia is a developed country of poor people, as discussed by Manuela Tašler.

What is the Ukrainian credit line? Can one obtain a loan in Croatia without a mortgage at a fixed annual interest rate of less than two percent? In what way is the Croatian industry better than tourism? What will happen if Brod and Split are no longer written as one word? Answers to these and many other questions were provided by Hrvoje Čuvalo, CEO of HBOR, in a major interview with our Antonija Knežević.

Following the Law on Unfair Trading Practices, Croatian carriers, compared to foreigners, mostly small players, are seeking the adoption of a similar law for bus transport, i.e., state protection from foreign competitors whom they believe operate below ‘procurement prices’. They also consider this market insufficiently liberalized. Željka Laslavić writes about domestic carriers who are fighting against FlixBus and its partners.

All crises in the last ten years have taught us that there will no longer be periods without them and that we must learn to live in times of uncertainty, think differently, manage things differently, and be more flexible. Some say we will go from one crisis to another, so it is better to be prepared for that, says Siemens President Medeja Lončar, who spoke with our Donatella Pauković.

With the new issue comes a special supplement ‘Green and Digital‘.