Istanbul/London, Jan. 9 - Croatian retailer Agrokor is in talks with private equity firm Blackstone with a view to bidding for Turkish supermarket Migros, sources familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.
Migros -- the largest retailer in fast-growing European Union candidate Turkey with a market value of $3.1 billion -- is being put up for sale by conglomerate Koc Holding.
Migros stock rose sharply last year on expectations of competitive bidding but this week's surprise withdrawal by France's Carrefour and Turkey's Sabanci Holding knocked 10 percent off the share price.
Agrokor, Croatia's biggest private company with revenues of $3 billion and a presence in Bosnia, Serbia and Hungary, said in November it was interested in Migros.
On Wednesday a spokeswoman at Agrokor -- whose interests include a mineral water producer and a leading retail chain -- said she could not confirm or deny whether the firm was talking to Blackstone. Blackstone also declined to comment.
Final bids for the supermarket chain are due this week, sources say, although Koc has declined to comment on a deadline.
Other firms planning bids, according to separate sources, are private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co LP and Bain Capital, while BC Partners is planning to bid with Turkish private equity group Turkven.
In September, Koc said that Russian private equity firm Alfa was interested in Migros, which saw nine-month sales of $2.8 billion last year, but Alfa has not commented publicly since.
Swedish retailer ICA and its parent Ahold declined to comment on Wednesday on reports that ICA would bid.
SHARES SUFFER, UPSIDE SEEN
Shares in Migros have fallen 10 percent since Sabanci Holding said it and French partner Carrefour had decided against bidding. The two firms already have a Turkish retail joint venture, Carrefoursa.
In afternoon trade on Wednesday the stock fell 2.9 percent to 20.20 lira, back to the level at which it stood before Koc said it might sell the company. It later trimmed losses to close at 20.40 lira, down 1.9 percent.
Analysts and bankers say Carrefour had been seen as the strongest, most aggressive bidder and there are concerns about whether a private equity company will want to buy a listed company when Turkish law does not allow minority shareholders to be squeezed out after a tender offering.
Small amounts of Finansbank and Denizbank stock still trade in Istanbul despite tender offers by foreign banks which bought control.
"I don't think there's a great deal of understanding about the motives of the other suggested bidders ... although that doesn't mean the other bidders aren't going to be aggressive," said Berna Kurbay, analyst at Raymond James.
Migros stock rose 13 percent between Koc's announcement that Migros could be sold, on June 18, and the end of last year.
"We think a strategic bid would value the company higher than where it's trading at now," Kurbay said.