Russia's Sberbank is negotiating swapping its 18.5 percent share in the Slovenian retail chain Mercator for a stake in its mother company Agrokor, two sources at the company told news agency Bloomberg, Russian media reported on Tuesday.

The swap would mean that Sberbank, the biggest single creditor of the indebted food and retail group Agrokor with a €1.1 billion claim, could increase its stake at Agrokor on top of the share it will get after a debt-for-equity settlement plan is finalised in July.

Sberbank had earlier bought a 18.5 percent share in Mercator in a public auction for €40.6 million. The stake was previously used as a lien in Sberbank’s loan agreement with its previous owner, Agrokor Investments BV.

It is still unclear what share would Sberbank get in the “new” Agrokor group, a holding company formed as part of the food giant’s restructuring plan set out by its state-appointed emergency administration, with media speculating that Russian banks Sberbank and VTB would end up getting a 43-45 percent stake in the company.

The debt-for-equity settlement is expected to be finalised and agreed ith Agrokor’s suppliers and creditors by June 10, the deadline legally mandated by the special law on state-appointed management which had been passed in April 2017.

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