An in-depth look at Damir Topic of Divjak, Topic, Bahtijarevic & Krka covering his career path, education, and top projects as a lawyer as well as a few insights about him as a manager at work and as a person outside the office.
Career:
- Divjak Topic Bahtijarevic & Krka; Founding Partner; 1994-present
- Katavic & Pelicaric; Legal Trainee;1990-1994
Education:
- University of Zagreb, Faculty of Law; LL.M.; 1990
Favorites:
- Out-of-office activity: sport, sport, and, again, sport
- Quote: “May you live in interesting times”
- Book: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostojevski
- Movie: The Deer Hunter (1978)
Top 5 Projects
- Advising Nomad Foods on the acquisition of 100% shares in the frozen foods business owned by Fortenova for EUR 625 million. The deal won both the CEELM Croatian Deal of the Year and CEE Deal of the Year.
- Advising Entain in the acquisition of the SuperSport Group, the Croatian leading gaming and sportsbook operator with a 54% market share. With a value of approximately EUR 920 million, the transaction is by far the all-time largest deal to take place in Croatia and the wider region. The transaction was shortlisted for the CEELM Deal of the Year award for 2022.
- Advising on United Group’s acquisition of the Croatian business of the international telecom operator Tele2 AB.
- Advising Dogus Group in relation to its over EUR 200 million investments in the Croatian hospitality sector, i.e., full due diligence, and transactional support in the acquisitions of several marinas and hotels in Croatia and the subsequent sale of the marinas to CVC and hotels to Erste Pension Fund.
- Advising Allianz in two major transactions involving Zagrebacka banka, part of the UniCredit Group: the sale of Allianz SE’s 11.72% stake in Zaba to UniCredit Group and Allianz Holding EINS’s purchase of Zaba’s 16.84% minority stake in Croatian insurance company Allianz Croatia d.d.
CEELM: What would you say was the most challenging project you ever worked on and why?
Topic: This is, probably, the first due diligence we ever carried out. It was a diligence of the largest Croatian insurance company and our team was facing, for the first time, a physical data room (where we spent six full days in a room without windows), reviewing hundreds of documents, red-room rules (where I was admitted with only a pen and piece of paper), and all other elements that, from today’s perspective, seems outdated and plain vanilla. At that time (and it was almost 30 years ago), this was a complete novelty in Croatia and we were fortunate to be the first or among the first couple of firms that had the privilege to work on a project that was never seen before – no one had any experience with such work and, literally, we were an icebreaking team of lawyers in the area of M&A transactions in Croatia.
CEELM: And what was your main takeaway from it?
Topic: Don’t be afraid of new challenges, get out of your comfort zone, and remember that your best weapon is knowledge. Look at the market and learn what those better than you are doing – learn from them and there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Just get to the bottom of things and try to understand why something is done – what’s the purpose and the goal. And believe in your common sense – sometimes it is better than to blindly follow the market.
CEELM: What is one thing clients likely don’t know about you?
Topic: The clients probably don’t know how much anger I can store inside me and how much of it gets out in some other places – usually on the tennis court. The general perception of me is that I’m calm, patient, and emotionally neutral but, believe me, this is only when I negotiate a deal.
CEELM: Name one mentor who played a big role in your career and how they impacted you.
Topic: There is no specific mentor in my career who played a big role over some period of time but there was a colleague – Tin Dolicki – from whom I have learned a lot sitting on the other side of the table. Tin Dolicki was “the lawyer” in Croatia for many years and, working with him, I realized that fighting over each and every word and provision in agreements doesn’t make sense in the greater scheme of things. During our interactions, we managed to streamline the discussions on only a few important things and remained relaxed that the rest would be “market standard,” fair and balanced wording. Working with such a behemoth was, maybe, the best LL.M. I could have ever obtained.
CEELM: Name one mentee you are particularly proud of.
Topic: During my professional career I had two or three mentees who, I believe, were exceptional lawyers and good men or women. Currently, I’m privileged to have Dina Salapic, as my closest co-worker and she has all that I think is necessary to be a great lawyer and a good person to work with. I see, from deal to deal, that there is less and less I can teach her and soon she will lead our teams further with confidence and clear vision.
CEELM: What is the one piece of advice you’d give yourself fresh out of law school?
Topic: Dream big but don’t forget to remain patient. Sometimes I was only dreaming and was ready to sacrifice everything for the firm but time showed me that patience was equally important for success. Overnight success doesn’t bring joy and, usually, is not founded on solid and sustainable growth and reputation. Hence: “Life is a marathon, not a sprint, dear young Damir.”
This article was originally published in Issue 11.11 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.
