REGION: Croatian Tycoon Buys Majority Stake in Slovenian Emona Obala

Dailies Delo and Dnevnik report on Friday that a company owned by Croatian tycoon Branko Roglic has bought a majority stake in Koper-based wholesaler and retailer Emona Obala.According to the papers, the Croatian-Swiss company Orbico bought on Thursday 877 854 shares in the cash-strapped Emona Obala, which gives it a stake of over 50%. Orbico, say Delo and Dnevnik, paid EUR 7.5 per share, putting the value of the acquired stake at EUR 6.6 mln. Investment companies Modra linija, Ziva and Interfin are said by the papers to have been among those selling their stakes in Emona Obala to Orbico. Meanwhile, Modra linija holding issued a press release through the Ljubljana Stock Exchange on Thursday announcing it had sold 152 420 of its shares in Emona Obala at EUR 7.5 per share in an auction. The state-run Restitution Fund (SOD) also announced in a press release on Thursday that it had sold 240 499 shares in Emona Obala at EUR 7.5 in an auction. The reports on the takeover of Emona Obala prompted the operator of the LJSE to suspend trading in the share on Friday in a bid to ensure all investors are equally informed of the news. In Thursday's trading Emona Obala shares surged 10% to EUR 2.97, which is still well below the price reported to be paid by Orbico. Emona Obala is in the midst of restructuring aimed at getting the company out of the red. In 2005 its losses stood at EUR 3.15 mln on net sales revenues of EUR 50 mln. As part of the efforts, the company recently put its loss-making Noc in Dan chain of round-the-clock convenience shops up for sale. Orbico, which is located in Ljubljana, generated revenues of EUR 37.2 mln in 2005. It finished the year with a profit of over EUR 1m.

Source: STA