The Slovenian business daily Finance said on Wednesday that representatives of GP Morgan, a consulting company representing the Croatian retail concern Agrokor, and representatives of the Societe General bank, acting as a consultant to the Slovenian retailer Mercator, would soon get in touch to agree terms for negotiations between their clients on the possible takeover of Slovenia's biggest retail chain by the Croatian concern.
In a recently closed tender, in which non-binding bids were collected for the purchase of 50.03 percent of Mercator shares, Agrokor reportedly offered a price of EUR 221 per share, outbidding the other three potential buyers, financial funds which offered a much lower price.
Slovenian banks and the Pivovarna Lasko brewery, which are selling a majority stake in Mercator, want an agreement on the matter to be reached by the end of this year.
Mercator's management said last week that it was willing to actively participate in the three-week talks with Agrokor as proposed by the shareholders, but it also warned that Agrokor was Mercator's biggest rival in the region.
Finance today also brings an interview with Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor who said that he was worried about the possibility of Agrokor buying Mercator since the Slovenian food-processing industry depended on Mercator.
Pahor added that he was not sure that Agrokor really wanted to be Mercator's strategic owner that would develop it and see to it that Mercator shops primarily sold Slovenian products.
Mercator shares on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange today turned over less than 100,000 euros, going down 3.89 percent to EUR 168.10 per share.
