Ljubljana, July 30 - Slovenia's largest food retailer, Mercator, said on Monday it had called off a strategic partnership with Serbia's top food producer, Swisslion-Takovo, which was announced in March.
"After a detailed analysis, Swisslion-Takovo and Mercator discovered that the tie-up would not bring the expected benefits to both partners," Mercator said in a statement.
Mercator has a market share of 8 percent in Serbia and hopes to increase it to at least 10 percent by 2010. It also has units in Croatia and Bosnia.
Shares of Mercator fell 3.66 percent to 395 euros ($539.2) in Monday morning trade while the blue-chip SBI index lost 1.09 percent.