Russia's biggest lender Sberbank said on Thursday it would lend Croatia's biggest food producer and retailer Agrokor 600 million Euro ($829.47 million) to help it refinance existing debts and provide funds for company development.
Sberbank in Russia will provide 500 million Euro while its Vienna-headquartered subsidiary Sberbank Europe AG will provide an additional 100 million Euro, the bank said, in one of its largest corporate deals to date.
"Sberbank is committed to expanding its footprint further into Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as part of its international strategy," Herman Gref, the chairman of Sberbank Group executive board, told reporters.
Last June, Agrokor signed a deal to buy a majority stake in Slovenia's largest food retailer Mercator which will create a new company with revenue of 7 billion Euro and 60,000 staff.
In February, it agreed with Mercator's owners new takeover terms as a deadline for Mercator's debt restructuring, a key condition for the takeover to go ahead, expired.
Under the new deal, Agrokor will pay 86 Euro per share down from a previous offer of 120 Euro per share, thus valuing Mercator at 323.8 million Euro.
