Pipunić: From the Beginning, I Believed in the IPO, as Well as in All Other Projects

– Our stock is not for gambling, for rapid growth. It is a security for the investor because we are engaged in a stable business. The key is whether the company is efficient, productive, competitive, and we have shown that we know how to work. But as for the stock price, it will not fluctuate radically – said Marko Pipunić, CEO of Žito Group, in a one on one conversation with the editor-in-chief of Lider Miodrag Šajatović at the 17th conference Day of Big Plans.

Žito Group launched an IPO on the Zagreb Stock Exchange a month ago worth about 130 million euros, the largest to date, and speaking about how he felt from the beginning of this process, he said there was no fear and that he believed in the project.

– I am the first generation of capitalists in Croatia and I have been an entrepreneur since the 90s. An entrepreneur has the motivation to develop the company, so if he assesses that it is good to start the transition, the first generation will do it best. Together with my family, I decided that the transition to a joint-stock company and the launch of the IPO should be carried out by the one who founded the company – Pipunić recounted.

However, as various dangers always lurk around the corner, Šajatović asked him how much swine fever and salmonella affect business and the stock price. Pipunić does not see a danger for investors due to these problems, meaning the company may potentially achieve a slightly worse result, but it is important to adhere to safety measures, and in Žito Group, he emphasized, they have the highest standards.

– However, although the virus can enter in various ways, I believe this is still an excess. But the plague virus is present, we will never get rid of it, but I have no fear that the company’s operations will be endangered, even if the virus enters – he stated.

The IPO process is just one of the strategic moves made by Žito Group. Pipunić talked about how he started producing prosciutto, even though many were skeptical, asking where prosciutto comes from in Čepin.

– And I posed the counter-question ‘why not’? It was indeed courage, but we did not do it by chance; we analyzed everything thoroughly. It took many years for consumers to accept that prosciutto, but I believed in that project. They told me the same about the hotel in Čepin, which is now doing excellently – said Pipunić.

In response to Šajatović’s question about media speculation that Žito Group is negotiating with the owners of Fortenova about acquiring Zvijezda, Pipunić, with a slight smile, said that it is indeed in the realm of speculation.

He attributes the company’s success to his associates, to whom he has given the freedom to utilize their creativity and ideas. Without that, he emphasized, the development of Žito Group would have been far slower.