Slovenian Economics Professor Challenges the Contract Under Which Agrokor Acquired Mercator

Slovenian economics professor Bogomir Kovač believes that Slovenia entered into business dealings with Ivica Todorić under false conditions, which is why the purchase agreement under which Agrokor acquired Mercator is questionable, reports the Maribor newspaper “Večer” on Thursday.

“Slovenia entered into business with Todorić under false conditions, which is why the purchase agreement is questionable, and possibly even void. Agrokor acted legally questionable during the negotiations, manipulating business results as part of a dirty political game,” Kovač wrote in a contribution for “Večer”.

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Agrokor acquired the largest Slovenian retail chain four years ago for 452 million euros.

According to Kovač’s assessment, the political fate of the government of Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar, which has less than a year left in its mandate, depends more on whether he can prevent the spillover of the Croatian conglomerate’s crisis into Slovenia than on issues of borders and the Gulf of Piran.

Kovač (65) is a prominent Slovenian economist of the older generation, who has been involved in politics multiple times, during the former Yugoslavia and after Slovenia’s independence. He was a member of the commission for economic reforms in the governments of Branko Mikulić and Ante Marković and a candidate for the President of Slovenia in 1996 on the list of the then Liberal Democratic Party (LDS) of Janez Drnovšek.

Kovač tells “Večer” that Cerar’s government can hardly save Mercator from the consequences of Agrokor’s crisis, as it is passively responding to the measures taken by the Croatian government.

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Slovenian Minister of Economy Zdravko Počivalšek stated on Tuesday, reacting to the announcement of Agrokor’s revised business results, that Slovenia will not allow the spillover of Agrokor’s crisis into Slovenia and Mercator, which, in the opinion of the Slovenian government, should be recapitalized and restructured to become more competitive.

In addition, Počivalšek ruled out the possibility of the Croatian “lex Agrokor” being applied in Slovenia, which has enacted its own “lex Mercator” to protect the company of national interest from the potential effects of Agrokor’s crisis.