Bulgarian fund comes with 40 million euros – ‘Now is the right time to invest in Croatia’

Since Blackstone and BlackRock will not invest in Croatia, BlackPeak will – the Bulgarian venture capital fund is actively seeking companies in Croatia to invest up to 40 million euros. As announced on Wednesday by the leaders of the fund, one of the priorities of the investment company, named after the peak of Mount Vitosha on whose slopes Sofia lies, is the search for investment opportunities in Croatia.

– We are looking for companies that are leaders in specific niches – stated Rosen Ivanov, a partner at BlackPeak and one of its four founders.

BlackPeak Capital was founded in 2014 and currently manages two funds with a total of 150 million euros in assets under management. Investments are focused on Southeast Europe, and BlackPeak Capital has so far invested in 16 companies from four countries: Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia. Investments in Croatia would be made through their Southeast Europe Growth Equity fund.

They are only not interested in – real estate

Mateo Žokalj joined BlackPeak eight months ago from InterCapital to accelerate investments in Croatia. In his presentation to about a hundred representatives of the financial industry and investment community, Žokalj emphasized that the Bulgarian investment company has prepared 40 million euros for investments in Croatian companies.

They intend to invest between five and 15 million euros per company. – This can also be in tranches, not all at once. We are primarily interested in acquiring a minority stake, but we are also open to the possibility of acquiring a majority stake. We plan to make investments in Croatia within the next two years – said Žokalj for Lider.

The sectors that interest them range from manufacturing companies in specific niches, then the business services sector, IT companies, those operating in the healthcare and pharmaceutical fields, to the food industry and retail. – We are only not interested in the most popular investment class in Croatia: real estate – said Žokalj during the presentation.

In an interview with Lider, Žokalj says that BlackPeak Capital has been considering investing in Croatian companies since June 2021. – So far, we have established contacts with about 20 companies, and a few have entered the narrower circle. I can say that we are currently in the ‘late stage of early negotiations’ with those companies, that is, in the phase preceding the due diligence of their business – emphasizes Žokalj. He adds that the realization of the first investment is expected by the end of the first half of next year.

Among BlackPeak’s previous successful investments, two companies that have been included in the Financial Times list of the 1000 fastest-growing European companies should be mentioned. These are the Slovenian biotech company GenePlanet and the Bulgarian company euShipments. When asked what annual business growth BlackPeak expects from the companies it has invested in, Mateo Žokalj says they expect a joint strategy for growth that will result in revenue growth of about 20 percent.

Currently, the investment community is most concerned about geopolitical tensions that could result in disruptions in supply chains, further strengthening of inflation, and a general deterioration of the macroeconomic climate. Despite this, now is the right time to invest in Croatia, says Mateo Žokalj.

– Croatia has entered the eurozone this year, is close to joining the OECD, and that means a lot for the investment climate – concludes the representative of the Bulgarian investor.