Čakovečki mlinovi will announce a binding offer for Zagrebačke pekarne Klara

The General Assembly of Čakovečki mlinovi made a decision yesterday to increase the share capital with a partial exclusion of preemptive rights in the subscription of new shares, thereby creating an obligation for a public offer to acquire the company Zagrebačke pekarne Klara. In a rather complex, yet completely legal combination of ownership stakes, the announced acquisition of Čakovečki mlinovi by the Sisak-based company Plodinec, owned by Josip Plodinca and his wife Dragica Plodinec, will be realized in this manner.

Namely, the Mill and Bakeries owned by Plodinec currently hold 31.18 percent of the shares of Čakovečki mlinovi. According to the announcement on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, the decision to increase the share capital of Čakovečki mlinovi from 13.7 million euros to 21.3 million euros will be implemented by introducing the rights, i.e., shares of two companies into the Čakovečki company. One is the Sisak-based NewMip owned by the company Mill and Bakeries (MIP, majority-owned by the Plodinec family), which will be fully acquired by Čakovečki mlinovi. The other is Zagrebačke pekarne Klara, also majority-owned by the Plodinec family. While NewMip will contribute 100 percent of its shares to the share capital of Čakovečki mlinovi, Zagrebačke pekarne Klara will contribute 41.3 percent of the shares currently owned by Mill and Bakeries (majority-owned by Josip Plodinec and his wife Dragica Plodinec) and 20.25 percent of the shares currently owned by the company Plodinec (which is owned by Josip Plodinec).

In this way, Čakovečki mlinovi will become the holder of 61.55 percent of the share capital of Zagrebačke pekarne Klara, while Mill and Bakeries and Plodinec will no longer hold those shares. To incorporate these ownership rights into Čakovečki mlinovi, the General Assembly of that company will issue 5,730,000 new shares, but it has simultaneously come under the obligation to announce an offer to acquire the remaining shares of Zagrebačke pekarne Klara. In this way, the Plodinec family, by introducing the ownership rights of the mentioned companies into Čakovečki mlinovi, will take over the majority stake in the Čakovečki company, while the remaining larger investors – pension funds – will not participate in this according to a prior agreement with the Plodinecs.

At the same time, this will lead to the consolidation of the operations of MiP and Čakovečki mlinovi, including their affiliated companies, with the aim of increasing competitiveness and expanding operations in the relevant market, optimizing costs, and increasing the customer base along with planned business modernization. The intention is to connect operations in the markets where both groups actively operate, namely in the areas of milling, baking, and retail, and through such business synergy to enhance their competitiveness, expand their market presence, optimize costs, and increase the customer base along with planned business modernization, especially in the retail market.

Let us remind you that in addition to the milling business, Čakovečki mlinovi also has a retail segment consisting of the retail chains Trgovina Krk, Trgocentar Virovitica, and Radnik Opatija. Trgovina Krk has more than 440 stores, so through ownership integration, Čakovečki mlinovi will control nearly 700 sales points. By the total number of stores, it will be second in the market, behind Studenac.