December 13 (SeeNews) - Croatian distributor of fast-moving consumer goods and food producer Atlantic Grupa [ZSE:ATGR] said on Wednesday its Serbian unit Atlantic Stark signed a 20 million euro ($21.6 million) loan deal with German development finance institution DEG to secure the funding of investment in the development of Atlantic Stark.
The loan agreement is part of an investment cycle of Atlantic Grupa worth more than 100 million euro, planned for the next three years across the group's operations in Serbia, Atlantic Grupa said in a filing to the Zagreb bourse.
This investment plan is already underway and so far more than 15 million euro have been invested. The largest planned investment is focused on the production and logistics capacities of Atlantic Stark, primarily when it comes to the new Smoki snacks factory, which will receive an investment of nearly 53 million euro. It is the largest ever investment in the history of Atlantic Grupa.
Additionally, investments of approximately 50 million euro are planned for the consumer goods distribution business and the coffee business of Atlantic Grupa in Serbia.
Atlantic Grupa is a major regional producer of coffee with a goal of building its regional centre for the development of coffee business in Serbia. To this end, the acquisition of Strauss Adriatic worth more than 40 million euro is planned, subject to the approval of the competition authority.
Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) and Atlantic Grupa have a long history of business cooperation, which started with Atlantic’s first acquisition of the powdered drinks brand Cedevita in 2001. In 2006, DEG supported the capital increase of Atlantic Grupa prior to the company’s IPO on the Zagreb Stock Exchange. DEG remained a shareholder in Atlantic Grupa until 2014.
Shares of Atlantic Grupa traded flat at 54 euro by 13:40 local time on Wednesday.
($ = 0.927 euro)