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The “Fortenova” group, legal successor to “Agrokor”, received several offers for the sale of some of its companies, mainly in the frozen food production segment, among them “Frikom” from Belgrade.
According to what they told “Politika” in this group, they received non-binding offers for the acquisition of the companies “Ledo plus”, “Ledo chitluk” and “Frikom”, as well as for several other small related companies that make up the frozen food business group .
They did not want to specify who could be a candidate for the purchase of these companies, but announced that in mid-October they would decide whether or not to sell their companies and to whom.
The possibility of choosing a strategic partner that helps further development of the business group is not excluded, said Fabris Peruško, CEO and member of the Board of Directors of “Fortenova”.
Both the Croatian and Serbian public were surprised by this news, as the group previously announced that it would base its business structure on agricultural production, processing and retail. Even more so because it turned out that the frozen food segment has experienced tremendous growth around the world since the beginning of the pandemic.
The “sacrifice of corporate jewels” appears to be the result of the group’s financial troubles. This was somehow suggested by James Pearson, CFO of the Fortenova group.
“Given our clear strategy to strengthen the company financially, the sale of the frozen food business group, if completed, would result in a debt reduction, which would transform the financial position of the entire Fortenova group and allow investment in the remaining businesses to boost your future growth. ” Pearson said in a statement that was also sent to our editorial office. It adds that management will review all offers received and make decisions about what to do next.
Who is interested in buying “Frikom” and if he is satisfied with the business of that company in Serbia, did not want to comment.
By the way, the Croatian company “Agrokor” became the majority owner of “Frikom” in 2003. At that time, Ivica Todorić’s company, otherwise the first in Croatia to participate in the privatization in Serbia, reserved 11 million euros for 55.4 percent of the total capital of the Belgrade frozen food industry “PKB Frikom”.
“Agrokor” then assumed more than 13 million euros of debts from “Frikom”, and the rest up to a total of 65 million should have been invested in investments and a social program.
When “Agrokor” fell into financial trouble in 2017, speculation began about which of the big national capitalists could take over some of its most successful companies in Serbia. Miroslav Mišković, Miodrag Kostić and Rodoljub Drašković were mentioned as potential buyers of “Frikom”, but also of “Dijamant”, “Mivela” and others.
Croatian media unofficially find out that there are a dozen offers for this segment of “Fortenova” and that the price could exceed 600 million euros. Above all, as they say, if there is an auction because there are more bidders.
The investment fund “Midevropa partners” is unofficially mentioned as potential investors, as well as multinational companies such as “Unilever”, and even “Podravka”, which allegedly took an interest in “Ledo” several times in previous years.
Then it was speculated that she was willing to pay 260 million euros just for that company.
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