Russia’s Sberbank acquired a 18.53% stake in Slovenian retailer Mercator, a subsidiary of Croatia’s Agrokor, at the asking price of €40.58mn at an auction on July 7, Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reported quoting the bank’s press release.

Sberbank is Croatian food and retail giant Agrokor’s largest unsecured creditor, with a total debt holding of HRK8.17bn (€1.1bn) as of end-March. Sberbank refused to participate in a recent funding round, but its attempt to block it through the courts failed. It has since seized a 18.53% stake in Mercator held by Agrokor's Dutch subsidiary Agrokor B.V. The auction was announced earlier in June.

The bank said it fully understands Mercator's crucial role in the Slovenian economy and will act in the best interest of the company, according to STA.

The bank explained that the starting price equalled the average weighted monthly price per share prior to the announcement of the auction multiplied by the number of shares on sale.

1.13mn ordinary shares of Mercator were up for sale.

The stake, put up as collateral by Agrokor’s owner-Croatian tycoon Ivica Todoric when taking out the last loan with Sberbank, is not subject to the Croatian law dealing with Agrokor, which prohibits the sale of shares held by the indebted Croatian conglomerate.

Agrokor took over Mercator in 2014 and holds a 69.57% stake. An additional 10% stake in Slovenia's largest retailer is held by Croatian pension funds through fiduciary accounts, STA reported.

Mercator is one of the largest employers in Slovenia which has caused concern due to the debt crisis at Agrokor. In April the parliament adopted, the so called “Lex Mercator” - a bill aimed at preventing the diversion of funds from systemically important companies, specifically Mercator.