Croatia's Fortenova unaware of approvals for sale of Sberbank's stake to UAE investor

The financial transaction was completed on Monday, October 31, Croatian PR company Millenium Promocija said in a press release on behalf of the UAE investor on Wednesday, without disclosing financial details.

On Thursday, Fortenova said in a statement to SeeNews that it has not been officially notified of the sale of Sberbank's stake in Croatia's largest privately-owned group and the successor to the collapsed food-to-retail concern Agrokor. Sberbank, which is the biggest shareholder in Fortenova, is under international sanctions due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Fortenova stressed.

"It is our pleasure to announce that Saif Alketbi has finalised the purchase of the 43.4% stake of Sberbank in Fortenova. By this (acquisition) starts a period of strategic investment of Saif Alketbi in Croatia, and we believe that this investment will be extremely important for the Fortenova Group and the Croatian economy,” according to the press release.

Saif Alketbi is an experienced investor in private equity in different sectors, it added.

“The assets of Sberbank are under sanctions and the sale requires the issuance of necessary approvals by the authorities in charge of implementing the sanctions,” Foretenova said in its statement.

The first potential buyer of Sberbank's stake was Hungarian asset manager Indotek but it failed to obtain the required approvals, Fortenova said.

In the second attempt to sell the stake, pension funds obtained the necessary permits to acquire the Sberbank's stake but representatives of Germany's Allianz on the supervisory board of local pension fund AZ fund, owned by Allianz Holding and Zagrebacka Banka, stopped the transaction, Fortenova added.

“Fortenova has no information that further approvals to buy the stake have been issued and therefore we do not see how a valid sale could have been carried out. Besides, following the pension funds, there has been no due diligence of the company. If the sanctions have been violated, this is a crime and the company has not participated in it,” Fortenova said.

Croatian Pavao Vujnovac holds some 29% in Fortenova, local media reported in June, quoting Vujnovac.

Sberbank said in a separate statement on Wednesday that it has sold its 43% stake in Fortenova to Saif Alketbi, a businessman from the United Arab Emirates, who invests in real estate and technology and holds significant investments through various private equity deals.