AGSS Intends to Buy a Quarter of Mercator

London/Ljubljana, 04 April

London-based Altima Global Special Situations Master Fund (AGSS) has announced its intention to acquire up to 24.99% of the largest Slovenian retailer Mercator. The fund, managed by Altima Partners LLP, will offer SIT 41,000 (EUR 171.12) per share in the course of this week, Slovenian brokerage Ilirika said on Tuesday.

Altima said in a press release it was making the announcement "in the light of press speculation about the future ownership of Mercator, and the unusual movements in the share price of Mercator over recent days."
Indeed, Mercator has gained over 10% since the speculations first appeared at the end of last week. It closed at SIT 39,397 (EUR 164.44) today, up 1.97% but still below the announced acquisition price.
Altima said it believed that there are "opportunities as well as significant risks for Mercator in the nearly saturated home market and the increasingly competitive food retailing market in Central and Eastern Europe."
"The next phase of of the company's development is best conducted by a focused, well directed management, supported by well capitalised institutions which have both the financial capacity and significant risk appetite to sustain Mercator during this exciting but also challenging transition."
In this light, Altima believes its offer comes with a "generous premium to the price of Mercator shares in the market before the recent speculation."
The target stake is deliberate, as any acquisition in excess of 25% would force Altima to publish a takeover bid for all Mercator shares.
The company increased sales 11.2% to SIT 419bn (EUR 1.75bn) in 2005, but net profits slid by 16.5% year-on-year to SIT 5.6bn (EUR 23.4m), missing targets by 8.7%.

AGSS Intends to Buy a Quarter of Mercator

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