Croatia's largest spare car parts retailer - Tokic - has agreed on a takeover bid for Slovenia's Bartog spare parts retailer, media in Slovenia have reported.

The Ljubljana-based Delo daily reported that the procedure is still being tackled by the Slovenian Competition Protection Agency (AVK).

After the merger, the neww company could become a serious competitor to the GMT group, the largest spare car parts dealer in the entire region, Delo notes and adds that regional consolidation of that sector is currently occurring.

Tokic was established in 1990 as a family business and currently has more than 110 retail outlets around the country and employs 620 workers.

Bartog generated a revenue of €56 million in 2018. It has 150 employees and 36 retail outlets and a franchise network for BHS auto spare parts from Dubai. Originally Bartog was engaged in manufacturing and then transferred to selling car spare parts and quickly began to expand.

Bartog’s director Matej Umek did not wish to comment on the takevoer for the time being until the transaction is concluded.