Croatia’s Pivac buys majority stake in owner of Slovenia's Celjske Mesnine

The deal concerns only the meat unit of Celjske Mesnine, comprising Celjske Mesnine Z'dezele, Prsutarna S' Krasa and Celjske Mesnine Storitve, and does not include wine producer Radgonske Gorice, the buyer said in a press release.

Responding to a SeeNews email, the Croatian company's PR officer declined to provide further information on the deal.

By the time this story was published, Celjske Mesnine had not answered an email by SeeNews seeking details about the deal.

Following the deal, the management structure of Celjske Mesnine will remain unchanged and Izidor Krivec will keep his position as CEO.

According to Croatian news portal Tportal, CM Invest is based in Klagenfurt, Austria. Amur Inzeniring, owned by Izidor Krivec, holds 60% stake in CM Invest and the rest is in the hands of MIF Invest, which is almost entirely owned by Celjske Mesnine supervisory board member Danilo Dujovic.

Pivac reported a record-high revenue of 334 million euro ($363 million) for 2023, while Celjske Mesnine has an annual revenue of some one hundred euro, Tportal added. Pivac has some 1,200 employees, while Celjske Mesnine employs 450. Both companies have their own retail networks.

The meat processing capacities of Pivac spread on more than 65,000 square metres in Vrgorac, Karlovac and Cakovec, according to its website.

Family-owned Pivac is the majority owner of Croatian confectionery Kras [ZSE:KRAS] and is a minority shareholder in food and pharmaceuticals producer Podravka [ZSE:PODR]. It also runs hotels in Dalmatia.

($ = 0.920 euro)