Hanfa Approved Tokić’s IPO and SQ Capital’s Acquisition of Čateks

At today’s meeting of the Management Board of the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (Hanfa), a decision was made to approve the prospectus for Tokić’s public offering of 1,200,000 ordinary shares and the listing on the regulated market of up to 4,080,000 ordinary shares in the name, with no nominal value.

The General Assembly of Tokić decided in August of this year to increase its share capital by issuing up to 1,000,000 new ordinary shares in the name, with no nominal value, which will be offered to investors through a public offering.

The sole shareholder of the issuer, Tokić – Growth and Development Ltd., has decided to simultaneously offer up to 200,000 existing shares (shares for sale) held in the issuer as part of the public offering. The new shares and the shares for sale will together constitute the offered shares. The public offering will be conducted in one round and will include an offer to employees in Croatia and Slovenia, small investors in Croatia, and qualified investors in Croatia and Slovenia.

The automotive parts distributor Tokić Group has taken a significant step towards going public. The company announced that the process of transforming from a limited liability company to a joint-stock company has been completed with the registration in the court register. According to the statement, the company will continue to operate in the same manner as before, maintaining the continuity of the legal entity. All contracts, obligations, and relationships with partners and collaborators remain in force. Business shares become shares, and the Management Board and Supervisory Board continue to operate in the same composition. The change was completed based on the decision of the Commercial Court in Zagreb made on July 28.

The CEO Ivan Šantorić emphasized that, 35 years after opening the first Zagreb store of about thirty square meters in Kranjčevićeva Street, Tokić has matured for transformation into a joint-stock company.

– This allows us greater flexibility and opens up additional opportunities for growth, partnerships, and potential capital raising in the future – stated Šantorić. There has been speculation in the business community for some time about the company’s initial public offering (IPO), so there is a chance that Tokić will be the third IPO this year on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, following Ing-Grada and Žita.

The group employs more than 1,300 employees, and last year more than a hundred new jobs were created, mostly in the retail and logistics segments. It manages a portfolio of over 300,000 items and collaborates with more than 300 brands, having also developed its own brands. In the past year, the group achieved revenues of 232 million euros, an increase of 10.5 percent compared to the previous year, while profit grew by 14 percent, amounting to nine million euros.

As previously reported by Lider, in recent years the company has conducted several acquisitions, among which the acquisition of the Slovenian auto parts and tire dealer Bartog stands out. Its integration has yielded strong results: in five years, the revenues of the Slovenian company increased from 56.3 million euros to 93.4 million, and EBITDA increased two and a half times. This acquisition was not just a financial investment – the acquisition of Bartog and its successful integration served as a showcase of Tokić Group’s ability for regional expansion.

New Investment by SQ Capital

However, Hanfa did not only please Tokić; at today’s meeting, a decision was also issued approving SQ Capital’s announcement of an offer to acquire Čateks from Čakovec.

– The request was submitted on behalf of SQ Capital Ltd., for the account of the ‘Primus’ open alternative investment fund with a private offering. The price that the bidder commits to pay during the acquisition is 43 euros for each ordinary share of the company. The share capital of Čateks amounts to 4,948,970 euros and is divided into 190,345 ordinary shares, in the name, with a nominal value of 26 euros, which are listed on the Regular Market of the Zagreb Stock Exchange. The bidder and the persons acting in concert with it hold a total of 123,369 shares of the target company, representing 64.82 percent of the share capital and giving 64.82 percent of the voting shares. The offer pertains to the acquisition of the remaining 66,976 ordinary shares of Čateks – states the announcement from Hanfa.

Let us recall that earlier this year, SQ Capital entered into ownership of Vacom, a domestic retail trader in electronics, white goods, and household appliances, whose branches are spread across Croatia, mostly in smaller and medium-sized towns. This was also an investment from the Primus fund, which targets stable and ambitious companies with potential for long-term growth, according to the company’s announcement.

Earlier this year, SQ Capital emphasized that it is an ‘evergreen’ fund, meaning there is no fixed exit date, but investments are driven by long-term potential for value creation. This way, Vacom joined a portfolio that includes other domestic companies, while the fund simultaneously invests in startups through a separate fund, SQ Venture.

Let us recall that SQ Capital is a domestic investment company with a long-standing track record, managing over 130 million euros, with an investor base of over 80 private investors, family offices, and institutional investors from Croatia and the region.

SQ Capital, with a team of 12 professionals, manages the SQ Venture venture capital fund through which it invests in startup companies and the Primus alternative investment fund through which it invests in securities and shares in private companies.