Pivovarna Lasko to sell MERCATOR's stake

Slovenian brewer Pivovarna Lasko announced that the company and its biggest shareholder, Infond Holding, plan to sell their joint stake of nearly 48% in Mercator by the end of next March.

 Pivovarna Lasko Chairman Bosko Srot
said the call for international bids would be published within a
week. The criteria for the sale of Slovenia's top retailer will be a
balance between price and the expansion of Lasko's sales abroad. The
latter suggests that Lasko is looking for a retailer who could help
it break on to new markets. "We want the buyer of Mercator to
open new doors for us," added Srot. He denied that Lasko, which
owns 23% of Mercator, was forced into the sale by the ongoing
financial crisis, stating that the decision was made because of the
current proceedings against Lasko for its ownership of Mercator. It
had been reported recently in the Slovenian press that the most
likely buyer for Mercator could be Carrefour, although Srot said that
Lasko had not held talks with the French retailer. Other companies
said to be interested in Mercator are Tesco and Agrokor.