Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and his ministers on June 14 denied allegations that the government was putting pressure on pension funds to buy a 42.5% stake in the country’s largest private company, Fortenova Group, from Russian Sberbank.

Sberbank holds a 42.5% stake in Fortenova and has been trying to sell it since the start of the EU sanctions on Russia imposed after its invasion of Ukraine. According to the Financial Times, the Croatian government decided that the best option would be if Sberbank sells its stake to a group of Croatian pension funds. 

The biggest of these was the AZ pension fund, which reportedly decided to give up the €500mn deal, as Allianz decided it could breach EU sanctions, according to sources quoted by the Financial Times.

The Financial Times also reported that after AZ’s decision to back off from the deal, Croatia’s financial watchdog Hanfa started an inspection of AZ, indicating that if it finds any flaws a fine could be imposed.

"The company [Fortenova] is talking to pension funds in Croatia, which are asking our bodies to buy back the share owned by the Russian bank. They came to us, no one is forcing them. One of these funds, at one point – and those money is the money of Croatian retired people – suddenly said at the last minute it will not participate. Claims that someone has forced them, pressured them, blackmailed them are on the verge of science fiction, a popular effort to make up a problem,” Plenkovic said as quoted by N1.

On June 14, Hanfa also denied the allegations, saying it was working independently from the Croatian government.

Meanwhile, Croatia’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Butkovic also commented the FT’s article, rejecting any pressure by the government to Allianz or AZ.

"The thesis that the government of the Republic of Croatia put pressure on anyone, especially on the AZ pension fund, is meaningless and we reject it completely," Butkovic said as quoted in a government statement.

He added that Croatia has secured an exemption from the EU-wide sanctions on Sberbank to allow it to sell its stake by the end of October.

“If you remember the sanctions decree from July last year, we secured a deadline until the end of October, by which time all the prerequisites for the redemption of Sberbank's shares were secured with the approval of all competent authorities. The initiative was from pension funds for this transaction, and in that sense we as a government had this information, but we did not exert any pressure,” Butkovic said.

He added that the government held several meetings, including with pension funds, about the fate of Fortenova. The meetings with pension funds were requested by them, Butkovic said.

Fortenova was approached for comment, but did not reply to bne IntelliNews by the time of publication.