Forten Group took over the Serbian Mercator and refinanced its debt

Forten Group became the majority owner of Mercator and reached an agreement on refinancing the debt of this chain in the amount of 385 million euros, said Fabris Perusko, executive director of Forten Group, at an extraordinary online conference of representatives of the two companies. Forten Group provided refinancing of loans given to Mercator by 55 banks. Debt refinancing was made possible after Forten sold the Frozen Food Business Group (which includes Frikom from ) for 615 million euros, he said, noting that Mercator’s debt was reduced from 7 EBITDA to four during the financial restructuring. Mercator’s headquarters remain in , and ’s in Zagreb, said Perusko. When asked what will happen to the employees in Mercator, he said that they do not plan to reduce the number of jobs. Mercator’s strategy is to connect with local suppliers, it was pointed out at the conference. Tomislav Cizmic, Executive Director of Mercator, said that over the next five years, the priority is the development and renewal of the retail network in Slovenia and Serbia, and growth primarily in the Serbian market. When asked by the management of the confectionery industry Pionir how difficult it is to get on Mercator’s sales shelves, Perusko answered that now “is not the time to talk about it”. “Pioneer has a unique opportunity, if it has innovative products, Mercator is a channel through which they can reach their consumers,” said Perusko. After handing over the frozen food area, Forten is still the leader in the region in five areas such as beverages, edible oils, processed meat and are a significant player in dairy products, Perusko said. As he said, Forten Group is also the leading employer in the region. According to him, the second pillar of Mercator’s growth is investments in new production lines, such as the location of Dijamant in Serbia. The third pillar is innovation and investment in new products and digitalization. It was pointed out that they received all permits from the regulatory bodies for the transfer of Mercator’s shares to Forten Group. It was said at the conference that Mercator reduced the debt during the restructuring period, halved sales areas, introduced new formats, and this year Mercator will submit documentation for a building permit for a new logistics center that will employ 450 people. According to its website, Forten Group was formed by the implementation of the commissioner’s settlement in the Croatian company , after major financial problems, Nova Ekonomija reports.