The largest Slovenian retail chain “Mercator” signed a letter of intent on Wednesday, according to which it will take over all technical goods stores of the company “Merkur” within two months, after conducting a due diligence review.
The letter of intent was signed by Mercator’s director Žiga Debeljak and director of "Merkur" Bine Kordež on behalf of the management group Merfin, which is predominantly composed of "Merkur’s" business management. "Mercator" intends to finance the operation through recapitalization, and upon realization of the agreement, it would take over 44 Merkur technical goods stores, of which 32 are located in Slovenia. Slovenian media report that Kordež, as the leader of the management group that executed the management buyout of Merkur in previous years, was forced into this move due to a significant drop in revenue, reduced liquidity, and difficulties in servicing approximately half a billion euros in bank loans that Merfin had taken on in previous years. The final acquisition of Merkur by Mercator (which also has a technical sales sector) is expected to be reviewed and approved by the Slovenian state regulator for competition protection, to ensure that there will be no commercial monopoly in the technical goods sales sector, Slovenian media reported on Wednesday. (H)
