Croats in Banat - Luka Rajic invests in pharmaceutical plant in Zrenjanin

Luka Rajic, the second richest businessman in Croatia, has decided to follow the example of Agrokor concern owner Ivica Todoric, the richest Croatian businessman, and starts operating in Zrenjanin.

Mr. Rajic has taken over In Med pharmaceutical plant and decided to invest in the completion of the plant's generic drugs production units in the largest city in Banat.

As Dnevnik daily paper learns, this tycoon from Croatia has started a cooperation with Belgrade-based In Med, which commenced the construction of a pharmaceutical plant in Bagljas industrial zone in Zrenjanin in 2008. This plant should be put in operation in mid-2012 and it's projected production capacity is 10m packs of drugs per year.

Who is, actually, Luka Rajic?

He returns to the economic stage as the owner of Farma S, in which he has so far invested over EUR 20 million and employed more than 80 pharmaceutical experts. However, that is only the first phase. Over the next three years, he is going to invest another EUR 20 million in the business with generic drugs. In addition, he intends to invest over EUR 70 million in other businesses in Croatia and the region.

Mr. Rajic is, by the way, one of significant Croatian tycoons who built their business empires in the early 1990s, at the time of privatization. He bought Dukat in 1993 for DEM 10 million and the origin of that money was later the subject of numerous speculations. However, he has never been prosecuted or even been the subject of an investigation.

On the other hand, over the last 18 years he has proved to be an excellent employer, rational businessman, wise investor. He sold the dairy industry Dukat to a French company in 2007. At that time he was already living in Switzerland for some time where he bought a small chocolate factory, which was in a very bad condition. But he had it reorganized and significantly improved the production.

Then, in early 2009, Mr. Rajic decided to come back to Croatia and enter the generic drugs business with his own money, without taking out any loans. He founded the aforementioned company Farma S in Zagreb and hired mainly experts from Pliva.

From the very beginning his aim was to make Farma S a regionally recognizable brand and a leader in the production of generic drugs in Southeast Europe. The investment in Zrenjanin fits in his plan and he has already announced further investments in Serbia, worth 12 million euros.