STA, 4 April 2022 - Croatian group Fortenova has become the sole shareholder of Slovenia's largest retailer Mercator after squeezing out all remaining small shareholders, leading to a suspension of trading on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange pending a decision on delisting.
The company, which owned roughly 90% of Mercator prior to the squeeze-out, said that it had paid EUR 22.4 million for the outstanding shares.
The transaction completes a process that began in 2014 with the purchase of Mercator by Croatian retailer Agrokor, said Fabris Peruško, the chief executive of Fortenova, a company that took over Agrokor's healthy assets when it went bankrupt.
"This was a long and demanding process with many legal and financial steps, all of which led to the final goal - the creation of a leading regional grocery retail chain," he was quoted as saying.
