Slovenian government looking to merge Tus with Mercator?

The Slovenian government has prepared a scenario by which it would try to take Mercator out of the ownership of the problem-ridden Agrokor concern by merging it with the over-indebted commercial chain Tus, whereas an American venture capital fund would take part in the capital increase, reports Ljubljana's Delo.

As reported, this idea originates in the Slovenian government's efforts to rescue Tus from problems arising from big debts incurred in the period of its great expansion. The company is facing bankruptcy in case of a failure of the plan to have a foreign investor take over the debts towards banks, thereby practically becoming the owner of the chain, which has over 3,000 employees and an annual turnover of half a billion euros.

For this purpose, Delo reports, the government has contacted AnaCap, a private fund whose shareholders include Goldman Sachs, Honeywell and Allianz.

AnaCap would allegedly buy out the bank's claims towards Tus for 30% of the value, whereas the Slovenian government expects 40%.

However, as Delo reports, the fund does not have sufficient means with which to carry out the capital increase in the Mercator and Tus merger. Furthermore, it has not expressed interest in Mercator, Wisebroker reports.

Poslovni sistem Mercator d.d. Ljubljana

Fortenova grupa d.d.

Tuš Holding Celje

Vlada Republike Slovenije

Goldman Sachs New York

Honeywell International Inc. SAD

Mercator

Agrokor

Tus

Government of Slovenia

venture capital fund

Tus bankruptcy

AnaCap

Goldman Sachs

Honeywell

Allianz

Mercator capital increase

Tus capital increase