The owner of Croatia's Agrokor food concern, Ivica Todoric, said in an interview with Tuesday's issue of the Slovenian business newspaper Finance that he would not have ventured into the deal to take over Slovenia's Mercator retail chain if he was not convinced that in synergy with Agrokor he could create a good company that would work at a profit. He refuted fears by Slovenian suppliers that he would replace Slovenian products with Croatian ones.
"Our main objective is to give Mercator a new vision and make a very good company that will do business effectively and with a profit. I think that we can do wonders in the first year already", Todoric said.
He added that he expected rapid synergy effects from the merger of Mercator's and Konzum's networks on the regional market which will serve as the foundation of the future Adria Retail Mercator holding. The holding will be present in Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Konzum in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as there will no longer be any need for dual warehousing and transport capacities, and the new organisation structure has already been agreed with Mercator's management, he said.
Todoric said that he wished to transfer Agrokor's good business practice to Mercator, which will lead to a success similar to Agrokor's in Croatia, where Agrokor continues to have a growing revenue despite the slump in spending.
"The concentration of commerce in the region is very significant to protect domestic suppliers", said Todoric.
Todoric's Agrokor on Friday signed a contract to buy 53.12 percent in Mercator at a price of 240 million euros.
He explained that the transaction should be completed by the start of next year and that the company's restructuring would be completed by the end of 2014.
