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In line with Agrokor's takeover offer, the Croatian group is to pay the sellers EUR 86 per share, which values the 53% stake at EUR 172m.

The biggest seller, beverage group Pivovarna Laško, which owns 23.3% of Mercator is to receive EUR 76m, while state-owned banks NLB and NKBM will receive EUR 35m and EUR 16m each.

The other sellers are Gorenjska banka, Prvi faktor - Faktoring, Banka Koper, Hypo Alpe-Adria Bank, NFD investment firm, Banka Celje and NFD holding.

Agrokor will subsequently have to publish a takeover offer for the rest of the shares, meaning that it could end up paying up to EUR 325m for the acquisition.

Additionally, it has committed to provide EUR 225m in capital to Mercator, of which EUR 200m will be used to pay down loans and EUR 25m for operating capital.

The closure of the takeover would mark the end of more than five years of efforts by Laško to offload its stake as part of restructuring efforts.

It would also mark more than three years of efforts by Agrokor to conclude the takeover, which will make it the biggest retailer in SE Europe.