What has Studenac pledged to banks: from brand and accounts to KEA

The documentation submitted by Studenac to the Commercial Court in Split reveals the dark side of its aggressive expansion in recent years: a series of key rights and parts of the company’s assets have been pledged to secure credit and other obligations.

The list of collateral instruments includes Studenac’s trademarks, transaction accounts in Croatia and Poland, a stake in the Slovenian retail chain KEA, as well as real estate in Pazin, along with multi-million euro bank guarantees and promissory notes.

Bank-pledged trademarks of Studenac

One of the most extensive collateral packages is related to financing agreed upon in June 2025, in which the Polish Bank Polska Kasa Opieki acts as the collateral agent.

In favor of this financing, Studenac’s trademarks registered in Croatia have been pledged. The list includes over a hundred registrations, among which are Studenac, Studenac market, Sonik, Lito market, as well as numerous other brand and trade marks that the company has accumulated over the years through acquisitions and the development of its own brands.

The pledge on the trademarks secures obligations up to 300 million euros, increased by interest, fees, and costs, as well as additional obligations from hedging arrangements amounting to up to 76 million Polish zlotys. The same financial package also includes Studenac’s bank accounts.

Four multi-currency accounts in Croatia are under pledge, one at Addiko Bank, one at OTP Bank, and two at Zagrebačka Bank, as well as rights and claims related to accounts that Studenac has opened in Poland. The documentation states a secured amount of as much as 480.68 million euros for the Polish accounts.

The collateral package also extends to KEA

The banking collateral does not stop at the Croatian part of the business. The Security Certificate from May of this year shows that the package also includes Studenac’s Slovenian assets. Among the instruments are pledges on trademarks registered in Slovenia and on the stake in the KEA retail chain, as well as insurance related to the accounts of that company and promissory notes.

KEA has 32 stores, more than 250 employees, and around 50 million euros in annual revenue, and Studenac acquired it in 2024 for 16.04 million euros.

Recently, KEA has become particularly important in the court dispute regarding Studenac’s pre-bankruptcy. A&G Logistika, which has requested the opening of bankruptcy proceedings against Studenac, is asking the court to prohibit the company from disposing of or further encumbering its stake in the Slovenian chain.

Almost 18.4 million euros in bank guarantees

The total value of bank guarantees issued for Studenac’s obligations amounts to approximately 18.39 million euros.

The lion’s share of the bank guarantees has been issued in favor of companies related to two major logistics centers on which Studenac is basing its new distribution network. For VGP Park Split, where Studenac’s logistics-distribution center of 23,000 square meters was opened this year in Dugopolje, HPB issued a guarantee of 8.65 million euros. Two more guarantees, totaling 9.53 million euros, were issued in favor of Log Expert Tena, a real estate company associated with the logistics complex in Vukovina near Velika Gorica, where Studenac operates its new distribution center of 36,000 square meters.

The remaining, significantly smaller amounts relate to guarantees issued in favor of local government units and the state, such as the City of Zagreb, Rijeka, Rovinj, and State Real Estate.

These two examples further illustrate how Studenac’s growth model relies on the use of third-party real estate. The two largest new logistics centers are not among the properties that Studenac lists as its own, while obligations to companies related to those properties are secured by multi-million euro bank guarantees.

Pledges on real estate in Pazin

Studenac’s real estate in Pazin is also encumbered. The list of properties submitted by the Management to the court includes land and business facilities in Pazin on a plot of 6,037 square meters, an adjacent field of only 39 square meters, and a warehouse of 222 square meters marked as off-book ownership. On Studenac’s properties in Pazin, Plava Laguna has two pledges with a total nominal amount of nearly 5.7 million euros. The older one, from 2020, secures 1.696 million euros, while the newer one, from 2023, secures another four million euros along with agreed interest and costs.

Alca six million, Orbico five million

A special segment of the court documentation consists of the structure of issued promissory notes. Significant exposure is concentrated towards key suppliers: Orbico has been issued a promissory note of 5 million euros, while Alca holds two promissory notes of individual amounts of 3 million euros.

However, the list is much broader. Among the recipients of promissory notes are trading and real estate companies, space owners, tourism companies, as well as numerous cities and municipalities.

Lonia stands out, according to which there are six promissory notes of 982,500 euros each, totaling 5.895 million euros in nominal value. Promissory notes have also been issued to a number of space owners, which fits into Studenac’s business model that operates a large part of its sales network in rented spaces.

What remains when all documents are compiled

This documentation raises the question of how solid the stated collaterals actually are. According to the list submitted by Studenac itself to the court, it does not have a significant portfolio of its own real estate. Therefore, banks have not been left with classic mortgages on a larger portfolio of land and buildings as collateral, but rather trademarks, bank accounts, business shares, and other rights, including a stake in the Slovenian KEA.

Such a package may be valuable while the company is operating, but its value in a business failure scenario is significantly more uncertain. The value of Studenac’s trademark may drop significantly if the company ceases operations, the balance on the pledged account can change rapidly, and the value of the business share depends on how much someone would actually be willing to pay for it. A mortgage on valuable real estate is a more tangible form of collateral.

This is certainly of great importance for the further development of the process as Studenac does not possess a large portfolio of easily liquidated assets, which is why in the event of bankruptcy many creditors would be faced with extremely uncertain or small recoveries of claims.