The Agrokor Group is reportedly very close to an agreement with the owners of 53 percent of the shares of the retail chain Mercator, Slovenian commercial television POP-TV reported on Friday, citing unofficial sources.
According to their information, the purchase agreement between Agrokor and the selling consortium could be initialed as early as this week and signed on the 12th of next month.
Reportedly, the management of Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB) is the most interested in selling its 10 percent stake in Mercator, wanting to finalize the matter before its supervisory board meeting next month, claims POP-TV, while Pivovarna Laško (PL), as the largest individual owner, is also showing great interest in selling its 23 percent stake as it seeks to settle its debts with banks to which it owes nearly 400 million euros.
Mercator’s director Toni Balažič said on Friday at a business forum in Bled that he expects the consortium of owners of 53 percent of Mercator’s shares to make a decision on whether to proceed with the sale as soon as possible, and he assessed that it could take more than half a year from the decision to the completion of the sales process.
Agrokor, along with the MID Europa Partners fund, is the only one to have submitted a binding offer in the latest attempt to sell Mercator, reportedly offering 110 euros per share, which at that moment corresponded to the market price of Mercator’s shares on the stock exchange, while MID Europa Partners did not specify a price but is offering recapitalization.
