Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
Source: Jutarnji list
Author: Gordana Grgas
Photo: Signing of agreements on taking the marketing rights for RK Zagreb: Ivica Blažičko, director of sports operations at Digitel Communications, Aljoša Roksandić, CEO of Digitel Communications, and Bartol Kaleb, Chairman of RK Zagreb
Until then, business went great, and even listing on the local stock market was at one time considered one of the development opportunities. The IPO test (initial public offering) was made by the key company of the Group – DMS, which in 2007 decided to issue commercial bills, back then a popular financing instrument on the domestic equity market, agent for which was the RBA. The commercial bills were listed on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, and the prospect included a plan for the issue of 100 million HRK, and until 2011 four tranches were issued.
From this prospect, on the eve of the crisis that would sing the domestic market and make IPO an impossible mission, it’s obvious how all that happened surprised them – how high they soared. Let’s just quote one sentence that they used in their address to the potential investors back then: “The market risk is low. Up to now, the advertising market has risen twice as fast as GDP growth, and the future stabilization / stagnation of the advertising market would actually mean growth in the GDP market.”
In this document, Director Jasna Hrvić Smolec optimistically described the company’s potentials: “While from 2000 to 2005 there was a more pronounced ‘dependence’ on one big client – Hrvatske Telekomunikacije, in 2006/2007 DMS has significantly expanded the portfolio of large clients. In 2007, DMS entered into contracts with several new large clients: Pliva, Kraš, Ina. Also, new two-year contracts (2007 and 2008) have been secured with the existing big clients: T-Com, T-Mobile, Karlovačka pivovara”.
By the time the economic crisis broke out, Digitel Communications had already made large steps into other businesses, and there were some quite strange arrangements. For example, they maintained and serviced Petrol’s gas stations at that time in Croatia, after acquisition of the Karlovac company that had worked on that until then. They also bought the majority share in the courier company City Express, which they sold in 2011, and the value of the deal was never revealed. Like many others at the time, Aljoša Roksandić discovered the charms of the real estate business, and from that period most notable is his company Ilica Projects, through which he built a large residential-business facility in Vrapče. As bankruptcy manager Ante Majić tells us, in one of the rooms in that building he found the archived DMS books. It’s hard to determine how many more real estate ventures there were, as well as how much they had to do with Digitel’s business or private arrangements with other co-owners. Among the affiliated companies on the Ilica Project, according to the Poslovna Hrvatska website, there was Mamba Adriatic, owned by a certain Juan Miguel Ferrero Amengual.
Reshuffling of ownership
Another ownership reshuffle came in 2011. Smolec and Roksandic couldn’t get along anymore, and the company had fallen into financial troubles. Aljoša Roksandic then decided to accept the offer and bought out the 50 percent stake from Vladimir Smolec and Jasna Hrvić Smolec, thereby becoming the owner of 75 percent of the company. For that, as he told his partners, he intended to get the funding through a loan. The remaining 25 percent of the company remained in the hands of Dario Vince, but Roksandić arranged with him a down-the-road option, where Vince would step down in three years after the money is secured. Vince thus remained at the helm of the United Productions, Digitel’s branch for content production and branded entertainment. Vladimir Smolec on the other hand started his own entrepreneurial story, while Jasna Hrvić Smolec remained at the helm of the Digitel Media Service.
According to sources, it’s not quite clear why the operations of the company were hindered after Roksandic paid out Smolec. However, even then expansion was in plan: launching a new company specializing in sports marketing and rights management, led by Ivica Blažičko, who had left the HRT Sports Program and moved to Digitel. Then, Gingernet, a new business related to digital marketing that was created and led by the representative of young Digitel staffer Nikola Vrdoljak, also started picking up steam. In 2009, Vrdoljak launched the Gingernet agency as a special project of Vladimir Smolec, and it was absorbed by Digitel only when it turned out to be a successful business story. Vrdoljak joined Digitel Communications in 2007 as Smolec’s assistant, later becoming Advisor to the Directorate for Business Development in the Region and Special Projects, and later he added to his position of Gingernet CEO that of Digitel’s Director of Innovation. Vrdoljak is currently leading the dynamic 404 digital marketing agency, which he founded with Martina Pintarić in 2014.
(Tomorrow: How Digitel Failed: 21st century and the end)