The career and most significant business achievements of one of the largest entrepreneurs in Southeast Europe
The company, which is now among the most successful groups in agriculture, tourism, green energy, and banking, was founded by Miodrag Kostić in 1983 as a graduate economist, positioning him as one of the pioneers of private business in Serbia. After starting in trade and establishing the brokerage firm M&V Investments, he began his development in the agri-food sector in 2002 with the acquisition of sugar refineries, which also marked the revival of the sugar industry in Serbia – a success for which he is credited. This effort led to the position of Sunoko as the largest sugar producer in the broader region. In the following years, several domestic agricultural companies were acquired, culminating in the takeover of PIK Bečej in 2016. Thanks to the digitalization of primary production and improvements in productivity, the MK Agriculture division today manages about 13,000 hectares in Vojvodina. He acquired the company Carnex in 2011 and, as part of MK Group, secured further investments that allowed it to achieve a leading position in the regional meat industry and revitalize Serbian livestock farming, making Carnex the largest pork producer in Serbia.
Miodrag Kostić’s entry into the tourism sector was marked by acquisition of the Grand Hotel on Kopaonik in 2008, which is a leader in luxury hospitality in Serbia. He continued expanding in this segment between 2015 and 2017 by purchasing two hotels in Istria and establishing a partnership with the global luxury hotel chain Kempinski, under whose brand the Kempinski Palace in Portorož and Kempinski Adriatic in Savudrija now operate. His expertise in the development of tourist destinations was internationally recognized with the opening of the first Sheraton hotel in Serbia in 2018, located in Novi Sad, in collaboration with the global Marriott chain. In the same year, he became the majority owner of Portorož Airport, and previously, he entered as a minority shareholder in the ownership structure of the Budva Riviera and Sveti Stefan hotel groups in Montenegro, in which MK Group today holds a 33.55% stake. Through these acquisitions, Miodrag Kostić expanded MK Group’s operations in the Adriatic region and laid the foundation for new investments in the real estate sector.
As a pioneer in renewable energy, together with the company Fintel, he built the first wind farm in Serbia in 2015, and then, by his withdrawal in 2019, opened two more wind farms, making the MK Energy division one of the largest independent producers of green energy in the country.
Among his pioneering ventures is the first entry of a Serbian bank into the European Union market. After acquiring a majority stake in AIK Bank in 2015 and acquiring Alpha Bank in Serbia in 2017, he restored customer trust in the domestic bank. In 2019, he became the owner of Gorenjska Banka in Slovenia. Through the expansion of business in banking and further investments in the development of AIK Bank, he made it one of the leading banks in Serbia. The balance sheet assets of the banking group today exceed 10 billion euros.
Miodrag Kostić, as one of the first entrepreneurs in Serbia, has built a business empire over four decades of active career, one that has expanded beyond the borders of our country. He grew his companies based on the principles of continuous growth and sustainable development, making them profitable systems and stable pillars of the Serbian economy. This has earned him recognition in international business circles and a reputation as a visionary in business.
He stepped down from his managerial positions five years ago and entrusted the strategic leadership of the business system to his son, Aleksandar Kostić, Vice President of MK Group and Chairman of the Management Board of AIK Bank, while executive management was handed over to professional management – the Board of Directors at MK Group and the Executive Board at AIK Bank. The leadership of both systems, along with the employees, will continue to follow the vision of continuous growth and development set by Miodrag Kostić, just as it has successfully done in the past.
