Slovenia's Iskra acquires 50% of Croatia's Elkakon

Elka CEO Matija Sesok signed the deal in Zagreb with Miljenko Hacek and Tihomir Hacek, the owners of Business Center Cotra, which so far held 50% interest in Elkakon, Elka said in a press release on Tuesday, without disclosing the value of the deal.

Elkakon was set up in 2003. It has an output capacity of some 1,150 tonnes per year, which ranks it among the largest producers of round and profile industrial conductors in Croatia and neighbouring countries.

Croatian power transformer manufacturer Koncar Distributivni i Specijalni Transformatori D&ST (KD&ST) [ZSE:KODT, KODT2] will remain owner of the remaining 50% in Elkakon. Koncar D&ST is a unit of Croatian electrical equipment manufacturer Koncar Elektroindustrija [ZSE:KOEI].

The transaction is Iskra's fourth acquisition in Croatia. It it took over the Sibenik ship repair yard in 2019, which now operates as Iskra Shipyard. Iskra bought Elka from Miljenko Hacek in May 2021. Earlier this year, Iskra acquired a majority stake in Croatian electrical engineering company ELMAP.

"For Iskra Group this acquisition is a kind of wrapping up takeovers of cable businesses but it also represents an enlargement of cooperation and partnership with Croatian group Koncar," Dusan Sesok, CEO and majority owner of Iskra, said in the press release. He believes that Iskra and Koncar could expand their cooperation to other fields and considers this transaction as a first step into this direction.

The preferred shares of Koncar D&ST traded 1.32% higher at 1,540 euro intraday on Wednesday on the Zagreb bourse. Its ordinary shares, which are part of the main equity index of the Zagreb bourse, last traded on Tuesday, when they closed 0.64% lower at 1,560 euro. Shares of blue-chip Koncar Elektroindustrija traded 0.75% lower at 264 euro intraday on Wednesday.

($ = 0.932 euro)