Karanovic & Partners has advised the OTP Group on its acquisition of the Ilirika Fund Management Company in Serbia.
According to Karanovic & Partners, the acquisition was carried out by OTP Fund Management, Hungary, and OTP Banka Srbija. The target, Ilirika DZU, is the Serbian subsidiary of the Ljubljana-based Ilirika Group, a provider of asset management services.
"The OTP Group has always considered its Serbian market presence to be of strategic importance," OTP Fund Management Chairman of the Board of Directors Attila Banfi said. "This transaction makes us an active player in the local capital market." Banfi also mentioned the Serbian capital market regulations under which investment funds can only be offered to clients if the asset management company is operating in Serbia. "We wanted to meet this condition as, until now, investment funds have been absent from OTP Banka Srbija’s product range."
"The acquisition of a functioning asset manager is more than promising from a product development perspective," OTP Fund Management Deputy CEO Tibor Turner commented.
The Karanovic & Partners team included Partners Milos Jakovljevic, Maja Jovancevic Setka, and Bojan Vuckovic, Senior Associates Marko Culafic, Tijana Arsenijevic, and Stefan Savic, and Junior Associates Ljubica Stojanovic and Aleksandra Cvorovic.