Arena Hospitality Group hopes to raise 100 million euros.

The Arena Hospitality Group (formerly Arenaturist) will launch an initial public offering of shares worth up to 100 million euros. It will be Croatia’s largest IPO since Croatian Telecom nine years ago, and the first in the tourism sector, reports Večernji List on May 1, 2017.

The priority in acquiring new shares will be given to existing shareholders, but the shares will be offered to citizens and institutional investors as well. Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (Hanfa) has approved the prospectus on Friday. The scheduled date for opening the enrolment book is 15 May, and the enrolment period will last until 25 May. The public call is scheduled to be published on 12 May, and will include the exact number of shares and the price range.

With the new capital raised, further investment and expansion of activities outside Croatia are planned. As stated, the IPO will enable the company to be transformed into a dynamic hotel group operating in Central and Eastern Europe. The IPO process will be led by InterCapital Securities, UniCredit Bank and Zagrebačka Banka.

In early 2016, PPHE Hotel Group from London took over the majority stake of Arenaturist from investment funds and announced the development strategy to turn Arena into the leading hotel company in Central and Eastern Europe.

The first step was the consolidation of the Croatian part of the business. Later, shares were listed on the official market of the Zagreb Stock Exchange, and at the end of 2016 PPHE Hotel Group merged all its hotel operations in the CEE region into Arena, including eight Park Plaza hotels and one art'otel hotel in Germany and Hungary.

With this transaction, Arena has gained the exclusive right to develop and manage the Park Plaza brand in the Central and Eastern Europe, and became the first Croatian multinational tourist company.

According to the official website, Arena Hospitality Group is one of the most dynamic hospitality groups in Central and Eastern Europe currently offering a portfolio of 27 owned, co-owned, leased and managed properties with more than 10,000 rooms and accommodation units in Croatia, Germany and Hungary. They are the first Croatian company to own and operate hotels outside Croatia and to be granted an exclusive right to operate and develop hotels under an international recognised brand, which is part of one of the world’s largest hotel groups. This exclusive right to operate and develop hotels under the Park Plaza brand covers 18 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, providing the group with excellent growth prospects across the region.