ZOIL Makedonija no longer exists under that name. The insurance company is called Alta Insurance, the headquarters is moving from Bitola to Skopje, and the owner is the Serbian businessman Davor Macura - with one hundred percent of the voting shares.

Three changes in one year: owner, name, address. None of them is accidental.

The numbers behind the transaction

The changes followed a block transaction carried out in April this year, through which the entire package of 60,000 shares was bought and sold for 104,881,800 denars - around 1.7 million euros.

The new owner then didn't sit on what he'd bought. In June the Securities Commission approved a second share issue worth 1.3 million euros - 26,000 ordinary shares at 50 euros nominal and sale value. The shares were taken up and paid for by the sole shareholder.

So: 1.7 million for the company, plus 1.3 million in fresh capital going straight in. For an insurance company founded only in 2023, a recapitalisation worth nearly as much as the purchase price itself isn't cosmetics - it is preparation for portfolio growth.

Who the new owner is

Davor Macura is not unknown in the regional financial sector. He is the current chairman of the Supervisory Board of Alta Bank Belgrade, as well as of Alta Leasing Belgrade, and chairman and representative of the Association of Currency Exchange Operators of Serbia and Belgrade.

According to the biography published via the Macedonian Stock Exchange, he graduated in economics at the "Educons Sremska Mitrovica" University in 2014, took a master's in 2016 at the "Union - Nikola Tesla" University in Belgrade, and a doctorate in management and business in 2022 at the "MB" University in Belgrade.

The name "Alta" wasn't chosen by accident. There is already an Alta Bank Bitola, an Alta Bank Belgrade, an Alta Leasing. This is the assembly of a recognisable financial brand under one roof, with insurance as the final piece.

And a new board

With the change of ownership and name, a new board of directors was also elected. The chairman is Prof. Dr Zoran Ivanovski, the non-executive member is Prof. Dr Marko Andonov, and the executive member is Aleksandar Anevski, MSc.

What it means for the market

The Macedonian insurance market is small and most of its players are already in foreign ownership - Slovenian, Austrian, Serbian, Croatian. One more domestic company passing into a regional group isn't a turning point, it's the continuation of a trend.

Moving the headquarters from Bitola to Skopje is part of the same logic and is more interesting than it looks. Every such relocation means jobs, taxes and decision-making moving from the provinces to the capital - quietly, without a press release, as an administrative detail in a register.

For clients, at this moment, only the name on the policy changes. The rest - prices, terms, speed of payout - will become clear when the first larger claim arrives under the new name.