June 12 (SeeNews) - The European Commission said on Wednesday it has approved the acquisition of sole control of Fortenova Group MidCo B.V., the Dutch holding company that fully owns Croatia’s business group Fortenova, by Croatian businessman Pavao Vujnovac.
"The transaction relates primarily to the agricultural sector, as well as to the food production and supply of daily consumer goods in Croatia, Slovenia and various non-EU countries in the Balkans," the EU executive said in a press release.
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
The Commission concluded that the notified transaction, approved under the European Union merger regulation, would not raise competition concerns, given its limited impact on competition in the markets where the companies are active.
In June last year, Fortenova said it intends to launch the sale of its agriculture units.
Formerly known as Agrokor, Fortenova is Croatia’s top employer and largest retailer and a major food producer. Its agriculture division includes meat producer Belje, cooking oil producer Zvijezda and food producers PIK Vinkovci, Vupik, Agrolaguna, and PIK Vrbovec.
in March, Fortenova said it had received a number of non-binding offers for its agriculture division demonstrating "strong interest" in the unit.
Fortenova said earlier that it invested heavily in the agricultural unit in recent years. Notably, one of the major investments made last year was the renewal of agricultural machinery, costing over 60 million euro ($65 million).
The group’s preliminary results for 2022 showed net revenues exceeding 5.2 billion euro, adjusted operating profits of more than 300 million euro, and 1.1 billion euro of net debt.
Vujnovac is a major investor in the Croatian energy and logistics sectors.
($ = 0.929 euro)