August 26 (SeeNews) - Hungarian asset manager Indotek is close to buying from Russia's top lender Sberbank its 43% stake in Croatia's largest privately-owned group Fortenova, the successor to the collapsed food-to-retail concern Agrokor, Croatian media reported.
Indotek is close to obtaining an approval for the deal from the relevant UK regulators, as Amsterdam-registered Fortenova Group operates under the UK law, the Vecernji List daily reported on Thursday, quoting unnamed Hungarian sources.
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The transaction is expected to be valued at some 500 million euro ($500 million) and could be closed in the last quarter of this year, according to the daily.
Indotek did not respond to an email from SeeNews seeking further information about the deal by the time this article was published.
Sberbank, which is the biggest shareholder in Fortenova, is under international sanctions due to the Russian invasion on Ukraine. In April, Fortenova said that Sberbank has signed an agreement to sell its entire stake in Fortenova to Indotek. To conclude the transaction, it is necessary to obtain regulatory approvals in several markets, Fortenova said back then.
Sberbank became the largest individual shareholder of Fortenova with a 39.2% stake in April 2019 after the business operations of troubled Agrokor were transferred to the then newly formed group under a deal with creditors. Last year, the Russian bank raised its interest in Fortenova by swapping a 18.53% stake in Mercator for shares in the Croatian group.
Indotek Group is owned by Hungarian and American shareholders. Its founder, chief executive officer and majority shareholder is Hungarian businessman Daniel Jellinek. Its assets under management are invested mainly in real estate and non-performing corporate loans secured by real estate.
($=0.999 euro)