The Slovenian national trade union of workers in the retail sector has opposed the sale of the country's biggest retail chain Mercator, threatening to take measures against Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB), as the coordinator of the sale of a majority stake in Mercator, if the bank insists on continuing negotiations on the sale of Mercator to the Croatian concern Agrokor.
"We are aware that the banks cannot be the owners of the retail company in the long term, but we are concerned about incompetent bank managers, primarily those in the NLB," trade union secretary Ladislav Rozic told reporters in Ljubljana on Tuesday.
Representatives of workers' unions active in Mercator and of the retail sector trade union said that they were worried about practices which showed that banks wanted to sell shares seized from Slovenian companies as soon as possible, which they said threatened jobs and caused bankruptcies.
Commenting on the fact that the NLB owns one-tenth of Mercator shares, and indirectly a set of shares held by the Pivovarna Lasko brewery, and that it decides, together with other Mercator co-owners which form the consortium of sellers, about the sale of the company's majority stake, Rozic said that the union was prepared to stage protests against the NLB management, including the union members' closing their accounts at the NLB.
The entry of Agrokor into Mercator is supported by strong lobbying groups in Slovenia, said Rozic.
He added that Agrokor had proposed holding a meeting with Mercator employees to present its strategy regarding jobs, but that the meeting would not be held before the union obtained reliable information on the process of sale.
Union representatives supported the decision by Mercator's management not to allow for the time being an in-depth review of the company's operations as proposed by the NLB.
Agrokor submitted a non-binding bid for the purchase of a 52% stake in Mercator on October 17. According to media reports, it offered 221 euros per share.
Mercator's shares on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange today dropped 1.16 percent to 170.50 euros per share.
According to Slovenian media, the NLB and the consortium of sellers of Mercator shares disagree over the procedure that would enable additional talks with Agrokor so that it could submit a binding offer.
According to last week's announcements, Mercator's Supervisory Board is to make a decision on the matter on Friday, December 2.
Apart from the NLB and Pivovarna Lasko, the other shareholders that together hold the 52.10% stake in Mercator are Abanka, Banka Celje, Banka Koper, Gorenjska Banka, Hypo Alpe Adria Bank, the investment fund NFD 1, NFD Holding, Nova Kreditna Banka Maribor (NKBM), the Pivovarna Union brewery and the Radenska beverages producer.
