Slovak investment group J&T Group is reportedly set to make a hostile bid for Croatian conglomerate Adris Grupa, unnamed sources close to the Croatian company have said. 

Adris Grupa is one of Croatia’s most successful companies and it has become even more attractive after it managed to sell its tobacco unit TDR to British American Tobacco (BAT) earlier this year. The equity value of the transaction was  €505mn. Adris Grupa is also active in tourism, insurance, fish farming and real estate.

Adris Grupa declined to comment on the information and only confirmed that the Slovak investment fund had proposed a meeting to Ante Vlahovic, head of the management board, who is also the biggest shareholder in the company with a 20.4% share. Vlahovic, however, declined to meet the fund’s representatives, Adris Grupa said in a statement.

Plinio Cuccurin, former board member of Adris Grupa and owner of a 12.9% stake in the company,  has reportedly signed an option contract with J&T which will be made public only after the takeover is completed, Glas Istre reports. The daily claims that the Croatian company’s shareholders have been put under pressure to sell their stakes now the company is “full of money” after the sale of its tobacco unit.

The daily speculates that if the takeover succeeds and the company’s operations are restructured, a huge amount of capital will leave the country instead of being invested in Croatia. Adris Grupa has planned investments worth HRK4bn (€524.4mn) in its core businesses. All of the planned investments in tourism, insurance (Adris Grupa owns a majority share in Croatia’s biggest insurer Croatia Osiguranje) and fish farming, as well as jobs in the country, would be put at risk.

J&T investment group is mainly active in private and retail banking, asset management, investment banking and project financing. It is present in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Russia.