The consortium of Mercator vendors supposedly signed a new contract on sale of 53% share of Mercator to Croatian Agrokor, at the price of only 86 euros per share, instead of 120.

Agrokor also has to provide 225 million euros as capital increase for the Slovenian merchant, of which 200 million euros will go to banks, and the remaining sum into working capital.

The creditor banks should contribute the additional 100 million euros in the form of loans with the purpose of settling financial conditions in Mercator, which owes one billion of euros. The sales procedure should be thus completed in the first half of the year.

Two milestones
The contract on the purchase of Mercator by Agrokor, signed last June, included two conditions for completion of the business. The first was an agreement on restructuring the Mercator debts, to be followed by purchase later on. The first condition should have been fulfilled by the end of January, but the time limit was shifted to the end of February on Agrokor request.

The creditor banks should have explained by the end of January which manner of restructuring of loans given to Mercator would be acceptable for them. But as the agreement was not adopted, Agrokor at first moved the deadline to February 5. As the agreement failed again, they suggested an extension until the end of the month.

The banks’ aim was to get as much funds as possible from Agrokor through capital increase for Mercator, thus reimbursing the loans. The most firm stand supposedly have the Austrian banks Erste and Raiffeisen, and the fact that there are some banks among the vendors further complicates the situation.

In case no agreement is reached, Agrokor could, as defined in the contract, withdraw without any reimbursement.