Fortenova

Ljubljana, 16 June – Finance reported on Wednesday that the Serbian AIK Banka is close to signing a deal to buy all of Russian Sberbank’s operations in Southeast Europe, including those in Slovenia. A potential merger of Sberbank in Slovenia and Gorenjska Banka, which is owned by AIK, would create the third largest banking group in the country.

Ljubljana – Fortenova, a group based in Croatia’s Zagreb, published on Wednesday a takeover bid for the remaining 724,764 shares of Slovenian retail group Mercator it does not already own. It is offering to pay EUR 36 per share in cash.

The bid is open for 29 days, that is until 23 June, unless it is extended, the group said in the Slovenian newspaper Delo on Wednesday.

Zagreb – The Croatian group Fortenova and Slovenian retailer Mercator have signed a contract under which the latter will get a EUR 385 million loan to restructure its debt to creditor banks, in a move that further enables the transfer of the Slovenian retailer from the bankrupt former owner Agrokor to Fortenova.

Belgrade – Serbia’s competition protection authority has cleared the transfer of Slovenian retailer Mercator to Croatian group Fortenova, thus clearing yet another hurdle for the step that follows the bankruptcy of Fortenova’s predecessor Agrokor. Fortenova expects the transfer to be completed at the end of the month.