Croatian retailer Agrokor is once again reported to be the frontrunner for Slovenian retail chain Mercator.
Slovenian television reports this week linked the retailer to Mercator a month after the group’s owners, including shareholder Pivovarna Lasko, re-started an attempt to sell their joint 53.2% stake in the company.
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Investors in Mercator have been looking to offload shares in the retailer on and off since 2008 but a sale has yet be sealed.
In March 2011, Agrokor indicated it would be interested in buying over 23% of Mercator. In October that year, Agrokor then reportedly placed a bid for the shares but, a month later, the management of Mercator pulled its support for talks to sell the company to Agrokor after a dispute over whether the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corp.
Agrokor did not return a request for comment on the report, but a spokesperson for ING Bank, majority owners of Mercator and recently-appointed consultant for the sale, confirmed to just-food that Agrokor was indeed a bidder.
“Agrokor is one of the bidders and there has been interest from a number of other parties,” the spokesperson said. “Because of the way the process works we can’t give any more commentary on how many bidders there are or who they are.”
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By GlobalDataING has put together a non-binding invitation for the submission of bids, which is being sent to potential buyers, reported to include Aldi, Carrefour, Metro, Tesco and Wal-Mart.
The spokesperson would not comment on how long the process will take or when a decision is likely to be made.
