Centar Broker Becomes the Twelfth Issuer of Mini Bonds

Privredna banka Zagreb (PBZ), part of the International Banking Division (IBD) of Intesa Sanpaolo, acted as the sole issuance agent and investor in the corporate bond issuance by Centar Broker. This issuance is part of the Minibond initiative supported by the Corporate Banking Department for small and medium enterprises of IBD. With this mini bond as a financial instrument in the capital market, Centar Broker has raised long-term funds to finance its further growth and development of business activities.

Centar Broker was established in 2009 as an independent insurance and reinsurance broker. Its clients are predominantly legal entities, ranging from public companies and institutions such as hospitals, cities, and municipalities to private clinics and construction companies. They have been successfully operating in the market for a full 16 years with strong growth and an expanding base of reputable clients, and they are planning new acquisitions.

The mini bonds issued by Centar Broker are in the nominal amount of seven million euros and mature in 2032. This makes the company the twelfth issuer of mini bonds.

With this issuance, Centar Broker ensures the prerequisites for the continued horizontal development of its business in the form of acquisitions of new companies.

The issuance agreement was signed by Ivan Valentić, Director of CENTAR BROKER d.o.o., and Dinko Lucić, President of the Management Board of PBZ.

– Centar Broker has recorded significant, continuous organic growth since 2009 and will become the largest independent broker in insurance and reinsurance in domestic ownership this year. Our ambition does not stop here, and we see further growth both organically and inorganically, and we are proud and grateful that Privredna banka Zagreb has recognized our results and our potential. The issuance of the Minibond is a turning point in our further development, and we look forward to the challenges ahead of us. We are thankful to our clients and employees for their continuous support on our journey – said Valentić.

– The issuance of mini bonds by Centar Broker represents yet another strong indicator of the growing interest of small and medium enterprises in the capital market as a sustainable and flexible source of financing. CENTAR BROKER d.o.o. is the twelfth issuer to join our Minibond initiative, further confirming that this instrument is becoming a very good tool for financing small and medium enterprises not only in Croatia but also more broadly in the region. To date, we have successfully placed 70 million euros in mini bonds in the Croatian and Slovenian markets, which further attests to the growing confidence in this type of financing. It is important for financial institutions to become more actively involved in strengthening the capital market and to enable exceptionally successful companies to become nationally and regionally competitive by growing horizontally. In this way, we also contribute to the additional momentum of the domestic economy by preserving local employment and creating the prerequisites for the long-term sustainable operation of companies – added Lucić.

The bond issuance involved: Vedrana Jelušić Kašić, Member of the Management Board, the Capital Markets and Small and Medium Enterprises teams, Executive Director of Small Enterprises Josip Krešić, Assistant Executive Director of Corporate Banking Products Goran Kursan, Director of the Zagreb Region Tomislav Budimir, Director of SMEs in the Zagreb Region Jelena Rudolf Matijaščić, and Chief Coordinator in Capital Markets Filip Mikloška, along with colleagues from the credit approval sector.