Two weeks after the signing of the agreement on the acquisition of a 53% stake in Mercator from a group of 12 shareholders, including the indebted Pivovarna Laško (23.3%) and state-owned NLB bank (10.75%), Zorko was not able to say when Agrokor would transfer the 10% advance payment.

The Competition Protection Agency explained it has had no contact with Agrokor, although the Croatian company would need to apply for market concentration clearance within 30 days after the 14 June agreement, in which the purchasing price was set at EUR 120 per share or EUR 240m in total.

Analysts find this unusual, as Agrokor had been preparing for the takeover for years. What is more, market concentration clearance is crucial for obtaining funding from the acquisition partners, the EBRD, and the Blackstone and One Equity Partners funds.

If the sale of the 53% stake is completed, Agrokor will have to publish a takeover bid within three days and find another EUR 200m approximately for the remaining 47% stake if it decides to purchase it.

Agrokor would not comment on the situation for the STA.

Apart from Laško and NLB, the consortium selling Mercator includes banks Societe Generale - Splitska banka (10.17%), Unicredit Banka Slovenije (8.01%), NKBM (5.24%) and Hypo Alpe Adria (4.4%), as well as GB (3.8%) and Prvi Faktor - faktoring Beograd (3.35%).