Croatia's Imperial Riviera set to invest 200 mln euro over five years

Earlier this week, Imperial Riviera said it plans to double its capital to 826.7 million kuna ($123 million/112 million euro) from 400.6 million kuna via issuing new shares to Valamar, owner of 53% of Imperial, and Allianz ZB, whose AZ funds control minority stakes in Imperial.

"The announced capital increase of Imperial Riviera is the beginning of a five-year business plan envisaging 200 million euro worth of new investments in raising the quality of the portfolio and growing through acquisitions and expansion on attractive tourism destinations in Croatia and the region, thanks to which Imperial plans to become one of the top five tourism companies in Croatia," Valamar, Allianz ZB and Imperial Riviera said in a joint emailed statement on Thursday.

Imperial Riviera was set up in the beginning of July following the merger of hotel operator Hoteli Makarska into Rab-based peer Imperial. The merger was completed after both companies were privatised by the AZ pension funds managed by Allianz ZB and Valamar in partnership.

Valamar and the AZ pension funds have invested more than 1.0 billion kuna over the past three years in the acquisition of Imperial and Hotel Makarska and the subsequent strengthening of their portfolios, the statement added.

"The carry-over of investment in this joint project is in line with the investment strategy of the AZ pension funds, which invests in Croatia's tourism as we believe such investments are aligned to the long-term investment potential of the members of our funds, for whom similar investments represent a possibility to earn maximum yield," the head of Allianz ZB management, Kristijan Buk, said in the joint statement.

Imperial Riviera controls six hotels, three tourism villages and two campsites on the Rab island and in the coastal town of Makarska, with a capacity to meet 9,000 guests. It has been managed by Valamar since 2016.

Imperial's shares closed up 16.28% at 750 kuna on the Zagreb bourse on Thursday. There was no trading in them by 1300 CET on Friday.

(1 euro = 7.40174 kuna)