Pursuant to the Rules and Regulations of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange, d.d, and the relevant legislation, the company Poslovni sistem Mercator, d.d., hereby informs the shareholders and the public of the following:


Management Board of the company Mercator, d.d., informed today the company Agrokor, d.d., that in light of Agrokor's offer submitted to Pivovarna Laško, to acquire a substantial shareholding of Mercator, d.d., which would allow considerable managerial influence in the latter, Mercator sees no valid basis to commence discussions on the strategic offer presented to Agrokor, d.d., on March 2nd 2011.

In its strategic offer, the company Mercator, d.d., expressed interest to examine the possibilities of purchasing the retail operations of the Agrokor Group. Furthermore, the proposal clearly defined the strategic framework of such potential business combination. Should it be carried out, it would be based on strategic focus on retail by one Group (Mercator) and on food production and agriculture by the other (Agrokor), without managerial integration of the two entities, and without considerable vertical integration in terms of mutual shareholdings. The offer by Agrokor, d.d., to acquire a substantial shareholding in Mercator, d.d., is inconsistent with such starting points and thus renders absent any basis for entering discussions regarding Mercator's proposal.

Mercator, d.d., furthermore informed Agrokor, d.d., that its interest as presented in the letter dated March 2nd 2011 remains unchanged and that Mercator was willing to begin negotiations should Agrokor, d.d., feel at any time in the future that the proposed strategic framework may be of interest to them.


This announcement will be published on the company’s website at www.mercator.si as of March 10th 2011, and will remain posted for a period of at least five years.