Rodic M&B got EUR 163 per share, which is almost 10% above the value of Mercator on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange at the start of the week, Dnevnik says.
According to unofficial sources, the entire package was bought by Slovenian company Prvi faktor, which is owned by the development bank SID banka and the NLB bank, both of which are in state ownership and are said to be among the main creditors of the Serbian company.
Dnevnik expects that Prvi faktor, which is now the eight biggest owner of Mercator, will join the consortium of banks and beverage group Pivovarna Lasko in the ongoing sale of a majority stake in Mercator.
The paper says that Rodic M&B has been trying to sell its Mercator shares for some time and also sold small blocks on the stock exchange in recent months.
The Rodic brothers entered Mercator in 2006, when they sold the Vojvodina-based retailer M-Rodic to Mercator, receiving part of the payment in the form of Mercator shares.
An unusually high EUR 20m in turnover with Mercator's shares was recorded on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange on Friday, which helped push the item EUR 1.88% higher to EUR 163.
Meanwhile, the latest development in the organised joint sale of a majority stake in Mercator was Thursday's report by Croatian business daily Poslovni dnevnik that the 5 October deadline for non-binding bids has been extended until 17 October.
SOURCE: The Slovenia Times
