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


The company Coka, d.o.o., Vučak, Serbia, and the company Mercator-S, d.o.o., Novi Sad, Serbia, today signed an agreement on a strategic alliance. Based on this agreement, the company Mercator-S will take over the trade activities of the Coka Group companies in the Serbian market.

The company Mercator-S, d.o.o., Serbia, will, based on this agreement obtain 22 trade facilities in the Danube region, with a total area of over 12.000 square meters, on a long-term lease and sublease. Furthermore, the strategic alliance includes a purchase of inventories and equipment and a takeover of employees of the Coka Group companies: Coka, d.o.o., Vučak, Serbia, Dunav, a.d., Smederevo, Serbia, Inex, a.d., Velika Plana, Serbia, Mlava, a.d., Petrovac, Serbia and Nova trgovina, a.d., Požarevac, Serbia.

This strategic alliance will consolidate Mercator's position as the second largest retailer in the Serbian market. The strategic alliance is consistent with Mercator's strategy of growth and the vision of becoming the largest FMCG retailer in the entire region of SE Europe.

The agreement on strategic alliance will become effective as soon as all permits are obtained from the Serbian Commission for Protection of Competition.

Also attached to this public announcement is the opinion by the independent financial advisor on the justification of the transaction from the aspect of the shareholders and the company Mercator, d.d.


This announcement will be published on the company’s website at www.mercator.si as of August 4th 2010, and will remain posted for a period of at least five years.