Beretta takes majority in Croatia's ammunition plant
Signed in Zagreb on Thursday: Italy's Beretta holds 50 percent plus one share in Croatia's first small-calibre ammunition plant, with production in Obrovac due by mid-2029 and around 250 jobs.
Croatia’s first small-calibre ammunition plant will be built in Obrovac, and the controlling stake goes to Italy’s Beretta. The memorandum of understanding was signed on July 30 at Banski dvori in Zagreb, straight after a session of the Croatian government. The deal matters well beyond Zadar County: the Obrovac plant will sell into the same market that Serbian producers, above all Prvi Partizan of Uzice, have spent decades supplying.
Three men signed the document: Ivan Anusic, deputy prime minister and defence minister of Croatia, Pietro Gussalli Beretta, chairman and chief executive of Beretta Holding, and private financier Ivan Kapetanovic. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said after the session that the memorandum had taken more than a year to prepare and that the signature is only the first step towards construction.
“Hrvatska ce na ovaj nacin jacati svoje obrambene sposobnosti.” (“This is how Croatia will strengthen its defence capabilities.”)
Plenkovic described the Italian partner as a family firm from Italy that is, in his words, in essence a global company with 500 years of continuity in weapons manufacturing.
Who owns what
Beretta Holding takes 50 percent plus one share, which hands it control of decisions in the future company, while the remaining stake is split between the Croatian state and the private investor. The business portal Tocka na i puts the investment at several hundred million euros, a figure the government itself did not confirm.
The project as presented after the signing:
- ownership: Beretta 50 percent plus one share, the rest state and private partner
- location: Obrovac, Zadar County
- start of production: mid-2029
- workforce: roughly 250 once the plant runs
Why Obrovac
Obrovac is a small town on the Zrmanja river in the hinterland behind Zadar, one of the places that came out of the 1990s with its industry gutted. An alumina plant raised there in the 1980s never reached full capacity and became shorthand for failed industrial planning in that part of Dalmatia. The same municipality is now getting some 250 jobs in a sector where European order books currently run ahead of European capacity.
Pietro Gussalli Beretta said the project would be a partnership that further strengthens investment in Zadar County.
When does the plant start work?
By the middle of 2029, if the schedule holds, which leaves three years of permits, construction and tooling between the signature and the first delivery. Until then Croatia has no ammunition production of its own, despite hosting a small-arms manufacturer in Karlovac. Its air force has taken delivery of French Rafale fighters and the state has brought back basic military training, leaving ammunition as the one link imported in full.
What it means for Serbian producers
Serbian ammunition makers, from Prvi Partizan in Uzice to Sloboda in Cacak and Krusik in Valjevo, have been running at capacity since 2022 and their exports have climbed sharply. The Croatian plant will not compete before 2029, but when it does it will work the same calibres and court the same European buyers, backed by an owner whose brand is already familiar on the American civilian market.
At the same session the Croatian government launched the last reform it needs for OECD membership, the one on state-owned enterprise governance, with Minister Gordan Grlic Radman leading those talks. The cabinet’s next regular session is set for August 20.
