A consortium led by HOF Capital, with BlueFive Capital as its largest backer, has completed the takeover of Porsche's stake in Rimac Group and Bugatti Rimac, closing one of the biggest deals in Croatian corporate history.

According to reporting by Sinisa Malus for Poslovni, the transaction was financed entirely from the consortium's own funds and is valued at roughly €1 billion. With the deal now finalized, Rimac Group keeps its majority position in Bugatti Rimac, holding onto a 55% stake.

The numbers behind the sale are striking. Porsche originally put €180 million into Rimac, and walking away with about €1 billion means the German automaker has pocketed an €820 million profit. That's a remarkable outcome given that Bugatti operated at a loss for years before finally turning things around last year with €200 million in EBITDA.

The deal ranks as the second-largest M&A transaction in Croatian history, trailing only Barr's 2006 acquisition of Pliva.

Porsche isn't keeping all the windfall for itself. Dr Jochen Breckner, the Porsche Executive Board member overseeing Finance and IT, has said €250 million of the proceeds will be funneled into the company's pension fund to cover obligations to Porsche employees. Factoring in both the cash received and this pension funding, Porsche now expects its automotive segment's net cash flow margin for 2026 to climb to between 5.5% and 7.5%, up from an earlier forecast of 3-5%. The move comes after Porsche's operating profit collapsed by 93% last year, pushing the company to refocus on its core lineup rather than outside ventures.

Leadership is shifting too. Christophe Piochon is stepping down as President of Bugatti Automobiles' Management Board and COO of Bugatti Rimac. Mate Rimac will take over the Bugatti Automobiles presidency, while Marko Brkljačić, previously COO at Rimac Technology, steps into the COO role at Bugatti Rimac.

HOF Capital, meanwhile, is securing its foothold with three seats across the supervisory boards of both companies. Co-founder Hisham Elhaddad, speaking to Bloomberg News, revealed that HOF first invested in Rimac back in 2022 with a modest one-percent stake and has watched the company transform since Mate Rimac took the CEO role. He noted last year was Bugatti's best in its 117-year history. HOF's holdings have now grown to 23.5% in Rimac Group and 45% in Bugatti Rimac.

Elhaddad framed the investment as consistent with HOF's decade-long tech strategy, which has included stakes in SpaceX and Anthropic, and pointed to Bugatti's exclusivity — customers often wait four to five years for a model — as a unique value proposition. Josh Klaczek, another HOF partner, joins Elhaddad on Rimac Group's supervisory board.

Source: Total Croatia