Mplus Becomes Majority Owner of the Slovenian Agricultural Company Panvita

Croatian Mplus has acquired a 51% stake in the Slovenian agricultural-food company Panvita Group, thereby positioning itself as a leader in the food industry in Southeast Europe.

The value of the transaction amounts to 50 million euros and, subject to prior approval from the relevant regulators (primarily concerning competition protection) and internal approvals, will enable growth and expansion through further acquisitions, Mplus stated.

Panvita Group is one of the largest players in the Slovenian agricultural-food market dedicated to sustainable production of high-quality food. It operates in three key segments – primary agriculture, the food sector, and sustainable energy. As one of the leading vertically integrated agricultural business chains in Slovenia, it employs over 700 people and cultivates more than 3,500 hectares of agricultural land. In 2022, Panvita Group achieved over 117 million euros in revenue and an EBITDA of more than 10.3 million euros.

It is the first company to sign commitments defined by the European Union (EU) Code of Conduct on responsible food business and marketing practices in Slovenia, in accordance with guidelines for healthy and sustainable nutrition. With a developed quality management system, Panvita ensures standardized quality of fruits and vegetables with high nutritional value, while precise grain production such as wheat, barley, and rapeseed results in lower soil burden.

Subject to prior approval from the relevant regulators, Mplus Group will become the majority co-owner of Panvita Holding with the Polanič family as the largest co-owners of the remaining stake in Panvita Holding.

As part of the new partnership, the existing management team of the company, consisting of Peter Polanič as CEO and Toni Balažič as Executive Director, will be joined by the Chief Financial Officer and Chairman of the Supervisory Board from Mplus, to strengthen the partnership with Mplus Group’s resources in finance, M&A, and strategic growth and further expansion, including significant expansion beyond the Slovenian market.

Expansion into New Industries

– Panvita aims to become one of the leading food companies in the Southeast European region. The center of our development, business, and operations, as well as the newly formed group built on the foundations of Panvita, will remain in Slovenia, but regional partnerships are crucial for increasing the effectiveness and speed of implementing our strategy, and at Mplus, we have recognized the best partner for developing and positioning Panvita, or the new group, into a regional leader. Through strategic acquisitions and consolidation within the sector in the region, as an upgrade to the decades-long expertise of the team at Panvita, in partnership with Mplus, we will secure additional capital and knowledge necessary for growth and realization of our plans, said Peter Polanič, CEO of Panvita Group.

This investment marks the entry of Croatian Mplus Group into the agricultural-food industry, which is part of a broader strategy through which Mplus consolidates the markets of regional companies in Central and Southeast Europe via its M&A unit and expands its business into new industries. In 2022, Mplus launched the HR business vertical (Workplace), and in 2023, it also launched the e-Commerce vertical (Eplus Ventures). Guided by Mplus Group’s experience in the context of expansion through acquisitions, both verticals have achieved significant organic growth.

– Mplus has demonstrated that it has leadership with top expertise that knows how to identify opportunities for acquisitions and strategic growth. We apply this approach to sectors where we see room for consolidation. Investing in Panvita Group is a step into a new business segment for Mplus, but through its existing operations in the BPO industry, we are already collaborating with some of the leading global companies in the food industry on process optimization and sales development. We have built our other business verticals, HR and eCommerce, according to the same principle, said Darko Horvat, CEO of Mplus.

The investment in Panvita Group is one in a series of investments in Slovenia that Mplus has realized over the past few years.

Mplus Group operates in Slovenia in three business verticals – BPO, HR, and e-Commerce – and has been present in the market since 2017, when it acquired the BPO companies Linea Directa and CDE Nove Tehnologije. In 2023, it established a partnership with Manpower Slovenia and acquired the company Konverzija, which owns the Pink Panda platform. Today, both the BPO and HR segments of Mplus Group’s business are among the leaders in the Slovenian market.

Additionally, Mplus has invested in the IEDC Business School Bled, where as a co-owner, it invests in new generations of business leaders and talent development. Thus, Mplus Group views Slovenia as a domestic market, given that it is the country in the region where it has realized the largest number of investments.

Upon finalization of the investment in Panvita, subject to prior approval from the relevant regulators, it is expected that the pro forma consolidated Mplus Group will achieve around 500 million euros in revenue.