by Eugene Vorotnikov FoodBizDaily.com Moscow
December 21 2009 - Mercator, Slovenia's largest food retailer has officially confirmed it acquire a well-known Croatian retailer Getro in order to raise its market share in the neighboring country to about 9%.
Mercator, which currently controls 6 percent of the Croatian market, said the takeover contract was signed on Friday, and the acquisition would go ahead after getting approval from the Croatian competition regulator.
The main shareholder of Getro is a local businessman Vjekoslav Gucic, with a minor stake held by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The company employs 1,400 staff and last year had sales of E238m.
One of the reasons of selling of the brand is financial difficulties which have reportedly been having by Getro in the past few years.
Under the terms of the agreement, Mercator will acquire the 16 shopping centers operated by Getro, as well as its brand name and employees. The units will be added to Mercator’s existing 65+ outlets in the country - including 11 hypermarkets and 26 supermarkets – which generated sales of E361m in 2008.
“The strategic merger represents a step forward in Mercator's growth strategy, bringing it a closer to becoming the biggest food retailer in Southeast Europe”, said an official representative of Mercator.
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Business sistem Mercator, d.d.
Address: Dunajska cesta 107 p.p. 3234 1001 Ljubljana Slovenia
Telephone: (01) 560-1000
Fax: n/a
About Business sistem Mercator, d.d.
Mercator is a Slovenian retail chain based in Ljubljana. The company was founded in 1949 under the name Živila Ljubljana, but four years later it was renamed and given its current name. Today, Mercator is the biggest Slovenian and southeastern retail chain[1], operating hypermarkets, supermarkets and grocery stores in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria. Until the end of the 1990s, the company operated only in Slovenia, but then it started to spread on other markets by opening new hypermarkets in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. In 2002, Mercator also opened its first hypermarket in Serbia. Its primary market remains the home market in Slovenia, where the company currently operates 17 hypermarkets, but in early to mid-2000s they opened several new hypermarkets in Croatia and the company currently operates 5 hypermarkets in the country. There are also two Mercator's supermarkets in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as one in Serbia. Apart from operating hypermarkets, the company also operates a total of more than 1,000 small grocery stores and supermarkets in aforementioned countries. Their future plans are to spread on the markets outside the territories of the former Yugoslavia and become one of the largest supermarket chains in Southeastern Europe. Apart from selling products of renowned national and international companies, Mercator also operates its own brand of various food, drink and household products that are sold at discount prices in their supermarkets and groceries.