After the financial breakdown of the Croatian conglomerate Agrokor, the first part of the Mercator shares will be offered at an auction. 18.53% stake of the shares were seized from the Croatian fallen tycoon Ivica Todorić by the Russian Sberbank, hoping to gain at least € 40 and a half million.

That's the asking price for more than one million of ordinary Mercator shares seized by Sberbank from the Agrokor Investments with the headquarters in the Netherlands, after Todorić had pledged them as collateral for a 100 million loan, and found himself at the very edge of a precipice after extensive borrowing. The Dutch company directly owned by Todorić is supposedly exempt from the Croatian lex Agrokor.

The Russian bank announced that the package of shares will be sold in Ljubljana, in a single series. The interested bidders had already had to register, but only in the afternoon it will be clear who will actually appear.

For now, it seems that among the interesting parties most likely there won't be the Slovenian Sovereign Holding, or any of the state-owned companies, nor is Petrol expected in spite of speculations. According to the representatives of the SSH, the Slovenian Sovereign Holding has no intention of participating, as there is no money for that purpose. The Minister of Economy Zdravko Počivavšek announced that Slovenia had no intention of participating at the auction, but the Ministry is very active in their endeavours to find a positive solution for the problems in Mercator.

Should Mercator be sold today, Agrokor will still remain the majority owner with almost 70% of the shares. However, should the purpose of the auction be only a tool for legalisation of the seized stake, the Russians will become the second largest owner of Mercator.

Simeona Rogelj, Radio Slovenija; Translated by G. K.