Croatia's Fortenova Group launches sale of non-core assets

The first companies offered for sale include tourism companies Atlas, Kompas and their affiliates, as well as construction firm Projektgradnja and soybean producer Sojara, Fortenova said in a statement.

By distributing materials intended for potential investors Fortenova Group has initiated the previously announced process of divesting non-core businesses, the statement said.

"In line with its strategy of focusing on the development of its core businesses – retail and wholesale, food and agriculture – and the planned exiting from non-core activities Fortenova Grupa undertook extensive preparations for the divestment of the aforementioned companies, including hiring advisors for steering this process," the statement added.

Fortenova has hired local advisories UMiUM and PKF as consultants on the sale of Atlas, Kompas and their subsidiaries, and contracted Deloitte Croatia as an advisor for the sale of Projektgradnja and Sojara.

Fortenova also said that Atlas, Kompas and their subsidiaries generated 219 million euro ($239 million) in total revenue in 2018. They control more than 20% of the markets in Croatia and Slovenia, and over 15% of the Montenegrin market, providing full spectrum of tourism services such as tour operator, travel agency and destination management.

Projektgradnja, on the other hand, completed 69 projects worth 174 million euro in the past four and a half years.

Zadar-based Sojara has soya processing capacities and over 150,000 cubic meters of storage area.

In July, Fortenova said it will sell 117 retail, food and agricultural production properties that are irrelevant to its core business.

The properties are divided into four categories: residential, commercial, land and other, as a starting price has been set for each property.

The business operations of Croatia's troubled food-to-retail concern Agrokor were transferred to the newly formed Fortenova Group in April 2019 under a settlement agreement with Agrokor's creditors endorsed by a Zagreb court in June 2018.

($=0.91486 euro)