Slovenian Economy Minister Radovan Zerjav has said he has nothing against the sale of Mercator but that he is opposed to the sale of the leading Slovenian retail chain to the private Croatian retail and agricultural company Agrokor which has so far offered best bids for the purchase of a 52-percent stake in Mercator.
The Slovenian minister said on Friday that the biggest Slovenian retailer could be "a springboard" for a big European retail company in plans to enter the market in this region.
"Mercator is an important company but I do not say that it has a strategic importance for the country. I am aware that there is no sufficient domestic capital to retain Mercator in the Slovenian hands," Zerjav said in his interview with the Telecom Slovenia web portal.
"I am not against the sale of Mercator but it should find the appropriate strategic partner. It may be some of the big European retail companies," he said.
He said that in the previous parliament he had expressed his opinion against the sale of Mercator to Agrokor, but he refuted speculations that the failure to sell Mercator had cast "a dark shadow" on Slovenia's readiness to be open to foreign investments.
Agrokor had offered EUR 221 per share which was markedly higher than offers by several financial funds.
Earlier this month Agrokor reported that it had withdrawn its non-binding bid to purchase a 52.1-percent stake in Mercator after failing to agree with the selling party on satisfactory conditions for the acquisition of the major Slovenian retailer. On 17 October 2011 it submitted its non-binding bid after the announcement of an international tender, which was conducted by the ING bank on behalf of a consortium of Mercator's main shareholders. On 7 November 2011, Agrokor's bid was chosen as the best one and Agrokor launched exclusive negotiations on the terms and conditions of the acquisition.
"The process has taken very long so far, which made us conclude that it could go on even longer, while its favourable completion is not guaranteed. Such a development would be detrimental to both companies and we decided to withdraw our offer," Agrokor said on 8 February.
The Slovenian economy minister said that the Mercator owners should not be interested only in the offered price but they should also see to it who would be a potential new owner and which motives it had.
Dismissing Agrokor as not being suitable for Mercator's strategic partner the minister said that "Agrokor has its business philosophy and we must take care for ourselves and for our state".
He admitted, however, that the failure to sell Mercator had caused additional problems to the Pivovarna Lasko (PL) brewery, a debt-ridden company which holds the biggest interest in Mercator, 23.34 percent. The failure to sell its stake in Mercator rendered the brewery's effort to lessen its debt more difficult.
