Ljlubljana, Nov 6 - Shares of Slovenia's largest food retailer Mercator jumped 12 percent on Wednesday, amid takeover speculation a day after its major shareholders announced plans to sell large stakes of the company.
Mercator rose 11.95 percent to 213.4 euros ($274.1) on the Ljubljana bourse, while the blue-chip SBI index gained 3.99 percent. Beverage producer Pivovarna Lasko and investment firm Infond Holding said on Tuesday they plan to sell their joint 48.34 percent stake in Mercator in an international tender that should be wrapped up by the end of March 2009.
In a separate development, Austria's Hypo Alpe Adria bank said on Tuesday it had received three letters of intent to purchase 10 percent of Mercator owned by energy and tourism company Istrabenz. Gerhard Greimer, head of corporate finance department at Hypo Alpe Adria group, told Reuters late on Wednesday that the decision whether to offer Istrabenz's stake at a joint tender with Lasko and Infond Holding will be taken on Thursday.
'If Pivovarna Lasko and Infond Holding indeed sell their stake, the share price could rise at least 20 percent above the 192 euros it reached yesterday,' said analyst Darko Kovacic of Raiffeisen bank.
'But I would be surprised if Pivovarna Lasko actually sells its stake because Mercator is the biggest buyer of its products,' he added.
Serbia's top retailer Delta Holding said on Wednesday it was interested in buying the stake in Mercator that is on sale.
Local media speculated other European retailers might be interested, including Britain's Tesco, France's Carrefour, Germany's Rewe and Croatian group Agrokor.
Mercator said in a statement that a possible takeover 'would considerably impact its business operations', adding the management was in favour of Mercator remaining 'independent'. Mercator's trade union said it was concerned a takeover by a large foreign retailer would mean a significant loss of jobs and asked the government to intervene.
The government has so far given no comment. Mercator, which is Slovenia's fifth largest listed company with market capitalisation of some 718.7 million euros, is owned mainly by local companies and investment funds.