Zagreb - The new owner of Kompas, Slovenia's oldest travel company, will be Springwater Capital in line with a contract signed in Zagreb today between the Madrid-based investment fund and the Croatian group Fortenova, the current owner of Kompas.

The signing of the contract on the sale of Kompas Ljubljana and Kompas Poreč comes after the new owner had already notified the Slovenian Competition Protection Agency on the planned takeover days ago through its Luxembourg affiliate Special Sits General Partner.

The regulatory approval is the only formal condition still pending for the transaction to be finalised.

In announcing the signing of the contract Fortenova failed to disclose the value of the deal.

Set up in 1951, Kompas had been in Slovenian ownership until 2006 before passing to Croatia's Adriatica.net and, after that went bust, on to Agrokor, which has since declared insolvency with Fortenova taking over its valuable assets.

Kompas has a market share in excess of 20% in Slovenia and Croatia.

In its press release Fortenova noted that Kompas is one of the oldest and largest tour operators in the Adria region and the largest destination management company in the region of the former Yugoslavia.

Employing around 600 staff, Kompas last year served around 1.2 million customers, who accounted for more than six million nights at tourism accommodation facilities.

According to Fortenova, Springwatwer Capital specialises in investment in tourism with investments in Spain, Portugal and Belgium. This includes Spain's fourth largest travel company, as well as the largest travel agency network in Portugal.

"I believe this transaction will have significant positive benefits to the existing business and employees," James Pearson, the CFO of Fortenova, was quoted as saying.