The Agrokor group did not bid for the purchase of shares of the Slovenian company, Mercator.

However, Delta Holding, the largest Serbian company, confirmed that they have delivered a non-binding offer, but cannot discuss it in more detail due to confidentiality obligations. The deadline for delivery of the non-binding offers to purchase 48% of Mercator stocks ended Monday at midnight. The Slovenian media announced that Mercator received 10 to 15 offers, including bids from the Agrokor group and Delta. This contradicts last weeks’ comment in “Poslovni dnevnik” by Mr. Ivan Crnjac, Vice President of Agrokor, that the group was not interested in the Slovenian company. The media also discovered that the bidding is not over, as they are still waiting to receive another offer and so more details about the buyers could be known by the end of the week. The Slovenian banking sector feels that the poor financial situation internationally and the decrease in the value of companies will affect this purchase negatively, meaning that the owners will not be able to acquire the 600 million euros, which is the current market value of Mercator. Therefore, it presumed that the owners may make a final decision not to sell the shares. The final decision on the sale may also be influenced by the Slovenian public and especially politics.
(AmCham)