The deadline for binding bids in the sale of a 53.18% stake in Mercator was initially set to April, but was then extended by the consortium of sellers to give the three respondents to a call to non-binding bids enough time for due diligence.

Twelve owners are taking part in a consortium in the ninth attempt to sell Mercator: brewer Pivovarna Union (12.33%), NLB bank (10.75%), Pivovarna Laško (8.43%), NKBM bank (5.24%), GB Kranj bank (3.80%), Prvi Faktor - Faktoring Beograd (3.35%), beverage producer Radenska (2.75%), Banka Koper (2.07%), Hypo Alpe Adria bank (2%), NFD 1 (1.01%), Banka Celje (0.88%) and NFD Holding (0.74%).

Agrokor is expected to offer this time much less for Mercator (closing at EUR 108.05 on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange on Monday) than in the last sale, when its bid stood at EUR 221 per share.