November the 12th, 2021 - Darko Pervan is set to build Hotel Slano in Slano, close to the City of Dubrovnik in the extreme south of Dalmatia, investing a massive eighteen million euros in the process.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, with the recently obtained building permit, the first greenfield hotel-tourist project of the Swedish-Croatian entrepreneur Darko Pervan is starting its full realisation in the form of Hotel Slano.

In the public eye, Darko Pervan is most perceived for having made significant investments in the domestic wood processing industry and for the successful operation of several export-oriented wood companies in Ogulin, Bjelovar and Otok, which are all now in great investment momentum. Over more recent days, the process of ownership takeover of Vinkovci-based DI Spacva into the system of Darko Pervan's Bjelin Group is coming as on as the ''icing on the cake''.

However, in parallel with these activities, Pervan's investments in the hotel, tourism and real estate business in the attractive area of ​​Dubrovnik and its wider surroundings have been taking place for more than a decade and a half. More broadly speaking for the Croatian hotel industry, in which greenfield investments in the past period were not the dominant form of investment, it has marked a significant step forward.

The Hotel Slano project otherwise covers an area of 10,000 m2 and the new facility's planned value stands at around 18 million euros. Hotel Slano, when it starts operating, will be a four star hotel, but only in the initial phase of business, since the investment project envisages new hotel construction according to the highest category standards, as was confirmed by Stjepan Vojinic, a member of the Management Board of Pervanovo Group, who is also the President of Bjelin Group.

"By the end of the year, an invitation will be sent out to the contractors," said Vojinic, adding that immediately after the selection of bidders, the Hotel Slano project will start because the goal is for the new hotel to start operating in time for 2024's summer tourist season.

At the same time, it is the second hotel in a row from the Pervanovo group. The first is the Hotel Kazbek, a restored Renaissance castle that was owned by the Zamanja family. The total investment in this part of the business together with the investment in Hotel Slano has risen to around 85 million euros.

With about 20 apartments in Dubrovnik and a number of villas (for example the Villa Riva Apartments, Villa Tereza in Cilipi, and Villa Franica in Dubrovnik), these latest operations mark the completion of the renovation of the former Ohmucevic family palace, which will operate as a residential villa.

The Bjelin Group consolidated to around 700 million kuna in revenue in 2021, and after a series of acquisitions, with the latest being that of Spacva, it completed the period of growth based on this leverage. This means, as Vojinic pointed out, that in the coming period the plan is to realise growth that is organic - by increasing production and sales, with the factors they have mastered, such as human resources and raw material base. Today, with a total of 1,750 employees, of which Spacva has 840, the Bjelin Group is the largest employer in the wood processing industry.

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June the 4th, 2021 - As we recently wrote, the Croatian-Swedish company Pervanovo, owned by entrepreneur Darko Pervan, has purchased the Croatian company Spacva, with plans for big investments and more.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Suzana Varosanec writes, on behalf of the Pervanovo company (based in Dubrovnik), owned by sole founder Pervanovo Invest AB from Sweden, Swedish-Croatian entrepreneur Darko Pervan, special attorney at law Mislav Bradvica, lawyer at the Zagreb law firm Bradvica, Mari, Wahl, Cesarec, delivered a notice of the occurrence of the obligation to publish a takeover bid for Spacva to the Zagreb Stock Exchange.

The above notice was submitted on the occurrence of the obligation to publish a bid for the takeover of the company Drvna industrija Spačva d.d., based in Vinkovci, and was entered into the court register of the Commercial Court in Osijek.

"Please publish the submitted notice on the occurrence of the obligation to publish a takeover bid without delay on the website of the Zagreb Stock Exchange d.d., in accordance with Article 4, paragraph 2 of the ZPDD,'' reads the notice.

Entrepreneur Darko Pervan appears extremely happy with the Spacva purchase, and can hardly wait to begin with his business plans. ''We're very satisfied with this latest acquisition,'' added Stjepan Vojinic, a member of the Management Board of Pervanovo, who clearly shares in this feeling.

"We've purchased Spacva, through the acquisition of shares from the Questus fund, Hrvatska postanska banka (HPB) and the Maverick fund, and that's a total of 98.6 percent of Spacva's shares," explained Vojinic, adding that they have to enter the operational business of Spacva in order to then present their ambitious future plans.

The full transaction was completed in which, as has since been found out, the services of consultants weren't even used. In the continuation of the procedure, a public announcement is expected for the remaining 1.4 percent of Spacva shares.

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June the 3rd, 2021 - Darko Pervan, who is a Swedish-Croatian investor quite well known across the country for his business moves and various acquisitions, will be the one to take over the Croatian Spacva company.

As Novac/Jozo Vrdoljak writes, Quaestus Private Equity sold 75.8 of its shares of the Croatian Spacva to Swedish-Croatian investor Darko Pervan and his Croatian company Pervanovo, and the plans now are quite ambitious indeed.

Until recently, the Polish flooring manufacturer Barlinek was the most serious investor in the Croatian Spacva company. But after that enterprise gave up on the venture, Darko Pervan's Pervanovo came into play. Representatives of the Quaestus Private Equity Kapital II fund were in Sweden about a year or so ago and talked personally to Darko Pervan, who is considered one of the most desirable investors in the wood industry, but Pervan kept things close to his chest all the time.

Now it can be seen that Pervan's move was indeed a brilliant strategic move, and the lion's share of the takeover was done by Stjepan Vojnic.

''The process of finding a strategic investor for the Croatian Spacva company began back in September 2020, at during very challenging times given the epidemiological situation.

During the process, talks were held with the largest and most reputable European wood industries and several investment funds. The entire wood industry has operated very successfully since last summer and with surprisingly good results given the situation, but uncertainty and limitations in normal business and travel have made it much more difficult to implement the process that was led entirely by Quaestus.

In the second step of the process, interested investors conducted an in-depth survey of the Croatian Spacva company. Corporate governance and transparent operations have been the focus of Quaestus and Spacva since the very first day of the takeover, and an in-depth look was only a formal confirmation of many years of good practice. The transaction was finalised during the month of May and a transition period will now follow until the assembly is held.

We're pleased with the outcome because satisfactory conditions have been achieved for our investors, but the long-term future of Spacva has also been ensured. As such, both goals of the funds for economic cooperation have been met. The Croatian Spacva company is in an extremely good financial situation with fully organised business processes, and Darko Pervan and the companies in the Bjelin Group have all the necessary resources, knowledge and vision to turn Spacva from a mere Croatian leader to a European leader in the wood industry,'' said Mario Popic from Quaestus Private Equity.

Quaestus otherwise initially took over Spacva back in 2013, after it had fallen into a severe crisis.

An investment of 200 million euros

Stjepan Vojnic, the director of the companies Pervanovo and Bjelin, recently revealed that in this cycle, the companies owned by Darko Pervan headquartered here in Croatia intend to invest 200 million euros. Bjelin, Pervan's second company operating in Croatia, manages plants for the production of floor coverings in Bjelovar and Ogulin, and he's been the owner of the company Furnir from Otok for over two years now.

In addition to the strength of the brand and its implied tradition, the huge value of the company and its contract with Croatian Forests (Hrvatske sume) is also of significance. A quota of 45,000 cubic metres of oak per year for a period of one decade has been agreed.

The Croatian Spacva company's geostrategic position is also valuable due to the fact that the area of ​​Vinkovci still has a sufficient number of interested workers trained to work in the wood industry in this country. During the first quarter of 2021, Spacva recorded 65 million kuna in revenue and 3.4 million kuna in profit, and its inventories were worth a massive 81 million kuna as of March the 31st.

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