September 6 (SeeNews) - Hungarian asset manager Indotek is close to buying from Russia's top lender Sberbank its 43% stake in Croatia's largest privately-owned group Fortenova, the successor to the collapsed food-to-retail concern Agrokor, Slovenian PR company Herman&Partnerji, a media advisor to the Hungarian company, said on Tuesday.
“We have received the US and EU permissions for the transaction, and we expect the final one from the UK shortly,” Uros Stanc, an advisor with Herman&Partnerji, said in a statement to SeeNews on behalf of Indotek.
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Asked to comment a report from Sunday published in Croatian magazine Nacional that that the Croatian government is going to block the sale of the stake to the Hungarian comnpany, Stanc said that Indotek Group does not comment on speculation.
The Croatian government and Fortenova did not respond to an email from SeeNews seeking comment about the deal by the time this article was published.
Sberbank, which is the biggest shareholder in Fortenova, is under international sanctions due to the Russian invasion on Ukraine.
In April, Fortenova said that Sberbank has signed an agreement to sell its entire stake in Fortenova to Indotek.
To conclude the transaction, it is necessary to obtain regulatory approvals in several markets, Fortenova said back then. 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.
According to an ownership structure statement published by Fortenova on June 1, Fortenova grupa is 42.51% owned by SBK ART LLC, whose ultimate majority owner is Sberbank of Russia, while 7.39% is owned by VTB BANK EUROPE SE.
On August 25, Croatian daily Vecernji List daily reported, quoting unnamed sources, that the transaction is expected to be valued at some 500 million euro ($497 million) and could be closed in the last quarter of this year.
($ = 0.993 euro)