The owner of Croatian fuel retailer Crodux Ivan Cermak said that the company was sold because there was no room for further expansion in Croatia. However, he plans to invest in the construction of gas-fired power plant in Slavonski Brod, a project Crodux launched back in 2012. Last week, Slovenian energy group Petrol agreed the acquisition of Crodux, which is now pending approval from the relevant authorities.
With this acquisition, Petrol is expanding in southeastern Europe by adding 91 petrol stations in Croatia to its network, thus increasing its market share to 23 %, being the second largest player in Croatian retail fuel market behind INA. Although financial details have not been disclosed, Slovenian media speculate that the price paid by Petrol is between 100 and 200 million euros.
The construction of 600 MW combined cycle power plant was initially supposed to start in 2014 and cost around 450 million euros. However, there were several problems with financing, obtaining the location permit, so the final investment decision was never adopted.
