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Croatian Antitrust Body Approves ALFI and Ivicom’s Solar Project Takeover

By  |  September 24, 2024

According to Yahoo, Croatia’s competition authority (AZTN) has granted clearance for the acquisition of joint control over two solar photovoltaic (PV) projects—Slavonija Power and Bilogora Power. The acquisition will be handled by ALFI Renewables, a subsidiary of Slovenian fund manager Alternative Financial Investments (ALFI), and Austria’s Ivicom Holding, part of the Ivicom Group. In a press release last week, AZTN confirmed the approval, stating that this concentration is unlikely to negatively affect market competition. However, financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

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    Currently, the Ivicom Group controls both solar projects. According to Yahoo, court registry data reveals that the owner of Slavonija Power and Bilogora Power is Ivicom Consulting, a company owned by Ivicom Holding alongside Croatian individuals Dinko Condic and Mario Bajsic.

    While neither of the two solar project companies is currently active on the market, the completion of their respective solar power plants, Trenkovo and Velika Pisanica, will position them as electricity producers. These projects are set to contribute to Croatia’s growing renewable energy sector, AZTN noted.

    Per Yahoo, ALFI Renewables is relatively new to the Croatian energy market, having mainly focused on asset management in areas such as retail and debt collection. This acquisition will mark ALFI’s first entry into Croatia’s wholesale electricity market. In contrast, Ivicom Group has an established presence in the country with projects including Slavonija Power, Bilogora Power, and other energy producers like Ivicom Wind and KMD Zabno Power. None of these entities reported operating revenue in 2023, according to AZTN.

    The Trenkovo solar power plant, once completed, will have an installed capacity of 12.478 MWp and will be located in Velika municipality in the Pozega-Slavonija county of eastern Croatia. Meanwhile, the Velika Pisanica solar plant will have a capacity of 5.861 MWp and is set to be constructed in the Velika Pisanica municipality, located in central Croatia’s Bjelovar-Bilogora county. These details were outlined in reports by Ivicom Consulting in August 2023 and environmental assessments by local company CIAK in February 2022.

    The approval of this acquisition marks another significant step toward expanding Croatia’s renewable energy capacity, with both ALFI Renewables and Ivicom Holding playing pivotal roles in the development of these large-scale solar power plants.

    Related: Zolar Raises $109 Million to Launch Financing Solution for Solar

    Source: Yahoo