Croatia’s Žito Grupa said on July 11 it had raised €130mn in new capital in its initial public offering (IPO), marking the country’s largest domestic IPO by a privately owned company.

The agricultural and food group plans to use the funds to support further investments aimed at strengthening its market position and enabling sustainable growth, it said inn a press release.

Žito set the final share price at €20.30, with strong demand from employees, retail and institutional investors, a press release published on its website said. More than 300 employees, over 4,100 retail investors, and 27 qualified investors took part in the offering, the company said.

The IPO, which ran from June 27 to July 9, offered up to 6.65mn shares. Investors subscribed for 6,403,950 shares in total, including 4,371,535 newly issued shares, while offers to purchase 1,280,385 shares for sale and 752,030 treasury shares were submitted.

Following the completion of the offering, the shares will be listed on the Official Market of the Zagreb Stock Exchange.

"We are happy and grateful because a large number of employees, as well as small and institutional investors, responded to the invitation to become our new partners in the Žito Group," CEO Marko Pipunić said in a statement.

Founded 36 years ago, Žito Grupa is the leading agricultural and food group in the Slavonia region with around 1,200 employees. It is Croatia’s largest egg producer, a leader in oilseed processing, and the second-largest pig producer in the domestic market.

Žito manages 17,800 hectares of arable land and buys crops from an additional 60,000 hectares cultivated by around 3,000 subcontractors.

The company has invested more than €200mn over the past nine years and has adopted a dividend policy targeting payouts of 30% to 50% of net profit over the next three years, it said.