MEP hopes to buy up to 25 pct of Mercator

Private equity fund Mid Europa Partners (MEP) hopes to buy up to 25 percent of Mercator, Slovenia's largest food retailer, newspaper Delo reported on Thursday.Nova Ljubljanska Banka, Slovenia's largest bank, said on Wednesday it was talks to sell its 10.75 percent stake in Mercator to MEP.Four other local banks, which together hold 16 percent of Mercator, were also hoping to sell their stakes, Arkas, the company managing the sale, told Reuters. MEP was not available for comment.
Mercator, which operates stores in Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Albania, has a market capitalisation of 565 million euros ($757 million). Mercator shares rose 3.9 percent to 152.9 euros on Wednesday while the blue-chip SBI index .SBI gained 1.35 percent.

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