A local consortium in Croatia is reportedly eyeing up a bid to take over food and retail conglomerate Agrokor.
According to a report in Slovenian daily Dnevnik, potential consortium members include Adris Grupa, Atlantic Grupa, Kraš, Podravka, and a number of Croatian pension funds.
The same source claims that the transfer of ownership and assets of Agrokor's solvent companies such as Leda, Jamnice, Zvijezde, Konzuma and others and Agrokor's property and real estate is currently underway to Dutch company Aisle HoldCo.
Most of these assets are in the hands of two Russian banks and mostly US financial institutions and funds, while Croatian banks have a 12% share.
If the ambitious plans for the establishment of the Croatian consortium are realised, this would mean that Croatia continues to see a strategic interest in Agrokor.
Regarding Agrokor’s Slovenian retail unit Mercator, the main issue is whether the banks, to which the company owes €738 million, agrees to the transfer of Agrokor's solvent company assets.
Financial Performance
Agrokor’s latest financial report (for the period 11 November – 10 December) was encouraging, with retail and wholesale EBITDA up 7.2% to HRK 28.7 million (€3.9 million).
In the first ten months of the year, supermarket chain Konzum exceeded targets by 1.2%, while turnover from retail sales was up 4.4% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, local retailer Plodine has expressed interest in buying Konzum with the goal of becoming market leader.
Talking to daily Jutarnji List, Plodine’s owner and president, Mile Ćurković, said that the consolidation process will last two to three years, after which it will be ready for the potential acquisition.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
