AmCham and EI Fund: Business climate in Croatia good, new investments planned

“The business climate in Croatia is good and is no exception to the overall business climate in Europe, and with optimism we continue to plan new investments,” said Michal Kedzia, partner of the Enterprise Investors (EI) fund for the Adriatic region, at a joint conference with AmCham on Monday.

At the conference titled "Building Enduring Businesses in Croatia", Michal Kedzia said that everyone in Europe has been going through a "thorny path" in recent years due to geopolitical reasons, but also that there is optimism for investment in all of Europe, including Croatia, and that stories about Europe becoming obsolete are overstated.

“Investors are focusing especially on the developing part of Europe, which means Central Europe. And we are directing our efforts there, so we are also investing in companies in Croatia, and we are also planning new investments because we have ready money,” said Kedzia, without revealing details.

The EI Fund is one of the leading private equity companies in Central and Eastern Europe, which currently has stakes in the retail chain Studenac in Croatia and the sports equipment retailer Intersport ISI, which operates throughout the Adriatic region.

Studenac with four times more stores than in 2018

Studenac's CEO Michal Senczuk said that the retail chain now has almost four times more stores than in 2018, when the company was acquired by the EI Fund, and that they are operating "with growth that goes beyond the borders of Croatia".

“We are actually the only domestic chain that is opening stores abroad, which speaks volumes about our growth over the past seven years. However, although Studenac has only existed in its current form for seven years, as a company it has been operating for almost 35 years in the service of the community, and this has not and will not change,” said Senczuk.

Končar, EBRD and ZSE are also optimistic

Končar's CEO Gordan Kolak is also optimistic about investments in Croatia, which, in his opinion, is still in a good business trend, like the entire EU, and despite all the challenges and risks, there are great market opportunities.

“Geopolitical circumstances are not (yet) reflected so much on market development, difficulties may be seen somewhere due to EU-US relations and the introduction of tariffs, but I believe, especially from Končar's perspective, that we are in a period in which we will invest heavily in infrastructure, as an incentive for further business development,” emphasized Kolak.

“In this sense, investment funds and their capital are also important, which additionally strengthens the Croatian economy and provides an incentive for sustainability and expansion into global markets,” said Kolak.

“Therefore, maintaining relationships with investment funds that are willing to invest together with us in business breakthroughs is very important for Končar, too,” added Kolak.

EBRD Director for Central Europe Miljan Ždrale also has a positive view of the investment climate in Croatia, as well as cooperation with the EI fund, adding that last year and this year they have seen an increase in business activities of both domestic and foreign companies in Croatia.

“This opens up new opportunities, which is also visible in the capital market, the Zagreb Stock Exchange, which is also a very important source of competitiveness and creates opportunities for the EBRD because the development of the capital market is also one of the prerequisites for more innovation and competitive growth,” believes Ždrale.

He also said that the EBRD has exceeded the figure of five billion euros in investments in Croatia, of which the majority or more than 70 percent went to the private sector and domestic companies and their sustainable business, digitalization, etc.

"Impressive growth" in turnover on the Zagreb Stock Exchange

He sees the potential and direction of the EBRD in the coming period in the areas of services and tourism, the technology sector, energy and agriculture, which he said had been neglected for a long time.

Regarding the capital market as a potential source of financing in Croatia, the President of the Management Board of the Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) Ivana Gažić pointed out that this is confirmed by the last two or three years on the Stock Exchange, with a noticeable impressive increase in turnover.

“We have two successful IPOs behind us and a third one is announced for this year, that of the Tokić Group, which we believe will be by the end of this year. Many citizens, as well as institutional investors and pension funds, participated in all these offers, and large funds were raised for the further growth of companies in Croatia, as well as regional expansion,” said Gažić.

The Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Croatia (AmCham) Andrea Doko Jelušić expressed her satisfaction with the long-standing cooperation with the EI Fund, whose capital helps domestic companies in sustainable growth and regional expansion.

“According to our research, we have quite good reviews of the business climate in Croatia and the focus should definitely be on private investments and for companies to continue growing and expanding globally,” said Doko Jelušić.

Source: HRT