Sberbank signs deal to sell 44% of Croatia's Fortenova to Hungary's Indotek

April 9 (SeeNews) - Croatia's largest privately-owned company Fortenova, the successor to the collapsed food-to-retail concern Agrokor, said its biggest shareholder, Russia's top lender Sberbank, signed an agreement with the intention to sell its 44% stake in the Fortenova Group to Hungarian asset manager Indotek.

The price of the deal was not disclosed.

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To conclude the transaction, it is necessary to obtain regulatory approvals in several markets, Fortenova said in a statement late on Friday.

"We welcome the entry of Indotek, which we recognise as a long-term strategic partner, into the co-owenrship of the Fortenova Group and we hope and expect that in the next few months all the approvals required to complete the sale and purchase of shares will be obtained,” Fortenova Group CEO Fabris Perusko said in the statement.

Regardless of a possible change in co-ownership, the Fortenova Group continues with regular business operations, the statement added.

“Our operating companies are successfully managing market disruptions caused by rising operating costs and disruptions in some supply chains, that our many customers do not feel, and we are fully focused on preparing for this year’s tourist season from which we have significant expectations,” Petrusko added.

Fortenova owns Slovenia's largest grocery retailer, Mercator, and the biggest food retail chain in Croatia, Konzum. Konzum and Mercator have a significant combined market share in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Fortenova is one of the biggest companies in Southeast Europe. It has over 50,000 employees and operates in three core activities: agriculture, retail and food, as well as non-core operations. It has manufacturing plants in several countries.

Sberbank became the largest individual shareholder of the Fortenova Group with a 39.2% stake in April 2019 after the business operations of troubled Agrokor were transferred to the then newly formed Fortenova Group under a deal with creditors.

Last year, the Russian bank raised its stake in Fortenova to 44% by swapping a 18.53% stake in Mercator for shares in Fortenova.

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.

In early March, the Croatian unit of Sberbank, Sberbank d.d., was sold to local bank Hrvatska Postanska Banka (HPB), under extraordinary procedure of the central resolution authority within the EU Banking Union, related to the sanctions against Moscow imposed by the EU over the Russian invasion on Ukraine.