"High volatility and a drop of the value of the Turkish lira and South African rand, which are the two most important currencies for Metair, and the growing costs of financing on both markets are the objective circumstances that obstruct the implementation of the strategic tie-up, which would probably be conducted through the sale of the majority shares of TAB to Metair," said TAB, where due diligence was being carried out in the past months.

The Mežica-based company asserted that this would not affect its operations or its long-term strategy. "Our intention is to continue develop independently while at the same time staying open for talks on strategic cooperation in the branch," CEO and co-owner of TAB, Bogomir Auprih, said in a press release.

TAB is one of the most successful companies in the Koroška region, posting record results in recent years.

Last year, the privately-owned company generated EUR 270m in sales revenue and EUR 22.6m in net profit, selling 2.9 million start batteries and 1.5 million of industrial cells.

The group's profit reached EUR 29.6m on sales worth EUR 326m.

In the first half of 2018, TAB generating EUR 132m in sales revenues and EUR 14m in profit.

Because of the talks with Metair, TAB's shareholders last week confirmed the proposal to retain the entire profit from 2017.

Auprih said last Thursday that TAB had decided to enter talks with Metair because of the situation on the global battery market and because Metair's non-binding bid was "sufficiently interesting".

TAB employs some 900 workers in Koroška and another 400 abroad, mostly in Macedonia.