- Stjepan Orešković joined Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Marko Primorac, EBRD Regional Head for Central Europe Miljan Ždrale, and MidEuropa Managing Partner Robert Knorr for a panel discussion at the 2025 EBRD Annual Meeting.
- The panel, titled “Croatia’s Success Story: From Transition to Resilience”, focused on Croatia’s economic transformation and its path toward long-term resilience.
- BOSQAR’s partnership with EBRD includes a EUR 40 million sustainability-linked bond and a EUR 60 million investment in Mplus.
London, UK, May 13, 2025 -Stjepan Orešković, founder and majority owner of BOSQAR d.d., the holding company of BOSQAR INVEST (BOSQAR d.d. – ZSE: BSQR), participated in a high-level panel at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) 2025 Annual Meeting and Business Forum in London.
The panel, titled “Croatia’s Success Story: From Transition to Resilience”, brought together senior leaders to reflect on Croatia’s economic transformation and its path toward long-term resilience.
Alongside H.E. Marko Primorac, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Republic of Croatia, Miljan Ždrale, Director and Regional Head for Central Europe at EBRD, and Robert Knorr, Managing Partner at MidEuropa, Orešković discussed the evolving role of private capital, entrepreneurship, and institutional partnerships in shaping Croatia’s competitive edge in Europe and beyond.
The Draghi Report: A Call to Action for European Competitiveness
Early on in the panel, Orešković underscored the importance of the Draghi Report on European competitiveness.
"The Draghi Report is a crucial step in aligning policy with economic ambition. But as an entrepreneur, my key question is: who's going to implement it? That’s why linking entrepreneurship with policy is essential.
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Croatia’s Path Forward: Innovation, Investment, and Scale
Reflecting on Croatia’s trajectory, BOSQAR’ founder emphasized the importance of strategic institutional support.
"Croatia must adopt a forward-looking mindset. The EBRD is one of the institutions actively enabling this transformation – supporting and financing companies that wouldn’t otherwise achieve scale. BOSQAR INVEST is a testament to this", Orešković said.
Robert Knorr of MidEuropa echoed this sentiment.
“Croatia has experienced a remarkable transformation. Deal sizes have grown, and while we’re not buying unicorns, our goal is to create them. One of our landmark transactions - United Group - helped put the region and Central and Eastern Europe on the investment map. Since then, we’ve created another unicorn in the food sector, attracting top-tier strategic investors,” Knorr said.
He added, “Our investment formula relies on a two-fold approach: a buy-and-build strategy and regional investments - supporting companies that can scale across the Adria region. We have invested on that basis.”
Strong Growth Fueled by Strategic Partnerships
As a long-standing EBRD partner, BOSQAR INVEST has achieved strong results. In 2024, the group recorded EUR 372 million in revenue and EUR 40 million in EBITDA.
"We were listed on the Zagreb Stock Exchange in 2019. Two years before, we had around 300 employees. With pending acquisitions, we’re now approaching 18,000 - just seven years later. How did that happen? We stayed disciplined - always working by the book - while being disruptive at the right moments. Success in this space demands doing many things simultaneously. We’ve followed a buy-and-build strategy. These results are made possible by partners who share our long-term vision, such as the EBRD and MidEuropa," Orešković noted.
Sustainable Finance and Investing in Human Capital
Beyond financial results, the partnerships we have are grounded in social impact, Orešković said.
“We’ve executed over 18 successful M&A deals in under five years, many in close cooperation with MidEuropa. All major Croatian pension funds are our partners, and we’ve had strong support from capital markets. We’re a transparent and well-organized company – that’s part of why EBRD chose us. Their due diligence wasn’t just financial, it was value-driven. ESG may be less fashionable to talk about today, but that’s exactly why I believe it’s important to emphasize it. Our shared commitment to ESG and sustainable innovation is central to this partnership."
Commenting on the EBRD’s investment in Mplus, Ždrale said: "It wasn’t just the buy-and-build strategy that enabled us to invest around €60 million in equity - it was also the shared and common values we had with the company."
Revitalizing Capital Markets in the Region
Croatia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Marko Primorac highlighted the strategic importance of regional and retail investor engagement.
“We’ve been actively working to revitalize Croatia’s capital markets after more than a decade of stagnation... Our strategic framework aims to increase liquidity, introduce new instruments, and raise corporate governance standards.
We’re also working on regional integration - including a memorandum of understanding and a common regional stock exchange index. Our ambition is to move from frontier market to emerging market classification - and we believe we can get there faster, together.”
Minister Primorac also emphasized Croatia’s strong economic fundamentals: "Croatia is an exceptionally stable, small, open economy with modern infrastructure and a favourable energy mix."
He pointed to structural improvements, including the elimination of macroeconomic imbalances, a decline in the public debt-to-GDP ratio, and a shift in the current account balance.
"For the last two years, Croatia has been a net creditor to the rest of the world," Primorac noted.
Closing Reflections from EBRD
EBRD’s Miljan Ždrale, who also moderated the panel, concluded the session with a strong message: “As you’ve heard today, this is more than just an investable economy - it’s a thriving, resilient, and diversified one. What the EBRD has achieved over the years, and what we will continue to do going forward, is made possible by success stories like the ones shared here today.”
