LJUBLJANA, March 1 (Reuters) - Three out of eight bidders have been shortlisted for the sale of 21 percent of Mercator , Slovenia's largest food retailer, the company managing the sale told Reuters on Monday.
'We chose three financial investors and will ask Mercator later this week to enable them to perform due diligence of the company,' said Andrej Zejn, managing director of Arkas.
Shares in Mercator, which operates stores in Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Albania, were flat at 160 euros by 1200 GMT, while the blue-chip SBI index was down 0.6 percent.
Arkas did not reveal the names of the bidders. Local media reports said the best bid had come from Croatian food retailer Agrokor, Mercator's direct competitor in the region.
But Zejn said only financial investors were invited to perform due diligence, which would exclude Agrokor, although the sellers may continue talks with other bidders as well.
He said the deadline for binding bids will probably be set for early April with a view to the sale being completed by the end of June.
In February Arkas received eight non-binding bids for a 36.35 percent stake in Mercator being sold by eight local banks. The stake has since been reduced to 21 percent since two banks said they would not sell because bids were too low.
Mercator, which last week reported a halving in its net profit in 2009 to 21.1 million euros ($28.7 million), has a market capitalisation of 603 million euros.
($1=0.7359 euros)
(Reporting by Marja Novak; Editing by Greg Mahlich) Keywords: gmMERCATOR/ (marja.novak@reuters.com; 386-1-47-00-520; Reuters Messaging: marja.novak.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
'We chose three financial investors and will ask Mercator later this week to enable them to perform due diligence of the company,' said Andrej Zejn, managing director of Arkas.
Shares in Mercator, which operates stores in Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Albania, were flat at 160 euros by 1200 GMT, while the blue-chip SBI index was down 0.6 percent.
Arkas did not reveal the names of the bidders. Local media reports said the best bid had come from Croatian food retailer Agrokor, Mercator's direct competitor in the region.
But Zejn said only financial investors were invited to perform due diligence, which would exclude Agrokor, although the sellers may continue talks with other bidders as well.
He said the deadline for binding bids will probably be set for early April with a view to the sale being completed by the end of June.
In February Arkas received eight non-binding bids for a 36.35 percent stake in Mercator being sold by eight local banks. The stake has since been reduced to 21 percent since two banks said they would not sell because bids were too low.
Mercator, which last week reported a halving in its net profit in 2009 to 21.1 million euros ($28.7 million), has a market capitalisation of 603 million euros.
($1=0.7359 euros)
(Reporting by Marja Novak; Editing by Greg Mahlich) Keywords: gmMERCATOR/ (marja.novak@reuters.com; 386-1-47-00-520; Reuters Messaging: marja.novak.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.