February 8 (SeeNews) - Croatian fund manager Prosperus Invest will exit installation materials distributor Vodoskok and hotel operator and developer Hoteli Plat in the next few months, and will make 5 to 6 investments this year from its new 59.6 million euro ($68 million) fund Prosperus Growth, Tomislav Ticic, a partner and board member at the private equity firm told SeeNews.
"Our earlier funds under management, FGS I and FGS II, have one more investment left, Vodoskok and Hoteli Plat respectively, and we are looking to exit both investments in the following months and close these funds," Ticic said in an e-mailed interview with SeeNews on Monday.
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Vodoskok is a very successful company, which will post record-high financial results this year, Ticic said, without elaborating.
Vodoskok reported a net profit of 18 million kuna ($2.7 million/2.4 million euro) on a revenue of 312 million kuna for 2020, according to Prosperus Invest data.
Hoteli Plat is one of the few remaining big tourism projects ready for development, Ticic noted.
"We are looking for a strategic partner which will take part in the future development and growth of this very promising company,” Ticic noted. Hoteli Plat closed 2020 with a net loss of 320,000 kuna and a revenue of 8.8 million kuna.
Prosperus first invested in Vodoskok in 2012 and in Hoteli Plat in 2015.
Hoteli Plat has been operating at a reduced hotel capacity, as only a portion of its assets has been renovated, and it offers to investors an opportunity to increase its capacity by building new luxury hotels on its territory.
Hoteli Plat was declared a project of strategic importance by the Croatian government in 2017 and the value of investments that it needed was estimated back then at 428.6 million kuna, according to government data.
Prosperus Invest financed three investments through the Prosperus Growth fund last year: in Croatian IT company SV Group providing business analytics and application development solutions in March, in Croatian IT company Neos specialised in analytics, applications and cloud and infrastructure solutions in October, and in UK-based publisher of open access books IntechOpen in December. The fund manager did not disclose the value of these investments.
Prosperus Invest plans to make two or three more investments in the IT sector via Prosperus Growth this year, including one in Slovenia. The remaining two or three will be in other sectors, including online publishing. The fund manager plans to make individual investments ranging from 5 million euro to 12 million euro from the Prosperus Growth fund to acquire majority stakes in the target companies and it expects to fully invest the money from the fund within five years.
A total of 75% of the assets of the Prosperus Growth fund will be invested in Croatia, the remainder is intended for investment primarily in Slovenia. The fund manages does not rule out making smaller investments in Bosnia and Serbia. It is interested in small and medium-sized companies and mid-caps with strong consolidation and growth potential.
Sector-wise, Prosperus Invest sees potential in ICT, high-tech production, renewable energy, pharmaceutical industry, consumer goods, business process management and tourism, the CEO said.
“For us, what is important is the quality of the company and its management, rather than the sector, and the opportunity through our buy-and-sell strategy to achieve growth,” Ticic said.
The Prosperus Growth fund has been set up set up with a time horizon of 10 years. The fund manager does not plan fundraising in 2022, and could start talks on a new fundraising round after two or three years.
(1 euro= 7.521 kuna)