Fortenova Group has formally completed the sale of Kompas Group to Springwater Capital after fulfilling all regulatory and administrative conditions.

The Kompas Group is the leading travel company in the region with presence in fifteen countries. Kompas is also one of the oldest and largest tour operators in the Adriatic region. Headquartered in Slovenia and Croatia and founded in 1951, Kompas is the leading tour operator in the region, integrated with a network of DMCs in the main European cities focused on escorted tours and Adriatic cruises wholesaling. The company is also involved in retail and online travel agency (OTA), Meetings, Incentives, Conference and Events (MICE) and Business Travel Centre (BTC) segments.

The transaction of TUI’s takeover of the Fortenova Group’s portfolio in Karisma Hotels Adriatic was concluded, after the approval of the concentration by the Market Competition Agency. In September last year, an agreement was reached between Fortenova Group and the world’s leading integrated tourism group TUI, as partners in the ownership of Karisma Hotels Adriatic (KHA), by which TUI takes over 33.3 percent of Fortenova Group’s share in the holding company that manages Hotels Kolocep, Hotels Zivogosce and Adriasense Zagreb. The total capacity includes three modern, refurbished four-star hotels with 589 rooms. KHA had almost 350,000 overnight stays in its facilities last year, and the guests were mostly from the United Kingdom, Germany, Scandinavia and France.

Following the recently announced acquisition of a 26 per cent stake in A.N.P. Energija held by Prosperus FGS, Fortenova grupa has now agreed to acquire a further 39 per cent shareholding in A.N.P. Energija held by Inspire Investments d.o.o.

Following the transactions with Prosperus and Inspire, Fortenova grupa will effectively wholly own A.N.P. Energia via a direct 65 per cent ownership along with a 35 per cent stake in A.N.P. Energija that it already owns via its wholly-owned subsidiary Agrokor Energija d.o.o.

A.N.P. Energija d.o.o. is the sole owner of Energija Gradec d.o.o., a company which operates five bio-fuel power plants in Slavonia and Central Croatia with installed capacity of 9.8MW, using biomass supplied by Fortenova Group’s agricultural companies to produce electricity from biogas.

The transactions will allow Fortenova Group to exit non-core investments and unlock significant value for Fortenova Group’s Agriculture segment by fully consolidating the Energija Gradec biogas power generation business.

Fortenova grupa d.d. entered into a definitive agreement with KHA četiri d.o.o., a Croatia-based hotel development company, to sell its 25% stake in KHA četiri to that company. In a separate transaction, Fortenova grupa d.d. agreed to acquire a 26% stake in A.N.P. Energija, held by the open venture capital investment fund with private placement – Prosperus FGS, thus gaining a controlling stake in the firm A.N.P. Energija.

A.N.P. Energija d.o.o. is the sole owner of Energija Gradec d.o.o., a company which operates five bio-fuel power plants in Slavonia and Central Croatia with installed capacity of 9.8MW, using biomass supplied by Fortenova Group’s agricultural companies to produce electricity from biogas.

These two transactions will allow Fortenova Group to exit this non-core hotel project and unlock significant value for Fortenova Group’s Agriculture segment by consolidating the Energija Gradec biogas power generation business.

“This provides another step forward in Fortenova Group’s strategy of divesting non core businesses and focusing on its core retail, food and agri divisions. With the consolidated holding in these bio fuel plants, Fortenova is not only investing in direct financial improvements but is also continuing to develop a more environmentally sustainable agri business model for the future.” – said James Pearson, Chief Financial Officer of Fortenova Group.

Fortenova Group and Springwater Capital (“SWC”) signed an agreement on the sale and purchase of Kompas d.d. Ljubljana and Kompas d.o.o. Poreč.

The Kompas network is one of the oldest and largest tour operators organising individual and group travel in the Adria region, and the region’s largest destination management company. In 2019, more than a million travellers used the wide range of the Kompas network’s tourist services, having realized over six million overnight stays.

SWC has a deep investment expertise in the tourism sector with investments in Spain, Portugal and Belgium: this includes Spain’s fourth largest company in the travel sector, as well as the largest travel agency network in Portugal.

“With this transaction Fortenova Group will largely complete the process of exiting its tourist investments that accounted for a significant part of our non-core business, which we have been successfully disposing of throughout the course of this year. We are very pleased to have found an excellent strategic partner for the Kompas network’s portfolio and employees, that has a very strong expertise and knowledge of tourist operations, and who will be looking to further invest and grow the business. As such I believe this transaction will have significant positive benefits to the existing business and employees who, on behalf of the Fortenova Board and Executive Directors, I would like to thank for all their hardwork and dedication in what has been an extremely challenging year in the tourism sector.

For Fortenova, as already communicated, exiting non-core investments enables us to focus on strengthening all the parameters of our core businesses – retail, food and agriculture, and streamline our organisational and management structures” – said James Pearson, Fortenova Group’s Chief Financial Officer.

The transaction will be formally closed following the approval of the concentration of SWC and Kompas by the Slovenian Market Competition Agency.

Fortenova Group and the world’s leading integrated tourism group TUI, one of the partners in the current ownership structure of Karisma Hotels Adriatic (KHA), achieved an agreement whereby TUI acquires the 33.3 per cent stake owned by Fortenova Group in this holding company, which manages the Koločep Hotels, the Živogošće Hotels and the company Adriasense Zagreb.

The total capacity includes three modern, refurbished four-star hotels with 589 rooms. KHA had almost 350,000 overnight stays in its facilities last year, and the guests were mostly from the United Kingdom, Germany, Scandinavia and France.

„As already communicated, Fortenova Group has a clear strategy of focusing on its core businesses in retail, food and agriculture and having an overall less complex group, which will enable it to generate better returns as we move forward. We have therefore been looking to find the right partners to take forward our businesses in the tourism sector. As one of our partners in the KHA ownership structure, TUI was the natural choice for the execution of this transaction, given that – apart from the fact that the group’s international tour operator business has brought the majority of guests to the hotels and camps – it also knows KHA’s operations and, even more importantly, has a clear vision for the future for this business, which is exceptionally important for us. ” – said James Pearson, Chief Financial Officer of Fortenova Group.

The transaction will be formally closed once the Market Competition Agency approves the concentration of KHA with TUI.