In the approval procedure, the watchdog examined whether Agrokor meets the conditions set in the Slovenian takeover act, establishing that the bid and prospectus of the Croatian group meet all legal requirements, the ATVP said on its website.

Agrokor, which acquired on 27 June a 53% stake in Mercator from a consortium of sellers for around EUR 172m, is expected to publish a bid for the remaining stake by 1 August, as announced in early July. It is to offer EUR 86 per share, which equals the takeover price.

The Croatian group has already provided EUR 225m in capital to Mercator, of which EUR 200m will go to repaying debt and EUR 25m for operating capital.

The biggest owners among the holders of the outstanding 47% stake are the Croatian Splitska banka from the Societe Generale group (10.76%) and Unicredit banka Slovenija (8.01%). Moreover, Croatian pension funds operating through the Croatian subsidiaries of Societe Generale and Unicredit also became important owners in recent years.

Slightly over 10% is held by investment firms and mutual funds, while around 13% is in the hands of small shareholders. Through a 62.5% stake in KLM, a firm that holds 2.2% of Mercator, the president of Positive Slovenia (PS) and former Mercator CEO Zoran Janković is also among the shareholders.