The Slovenian Supreme Court has ordered the Competition Protection Agency (AVK) to release the shares of retailer Mercator it seized from Croatian Agrokor in December 2019, Agrokor's successor Fortenova stated on Wednesday.

The Supreme Court’s ruling is final.

In early January this year, Agrokor said that it would use all legal means to contest the decision by AVK on the expropriation of Agrokor’s shares in Mercator. That statement ensued after Ljubljana District Court had rejected a complaint by Agrokor against the AVK decision of December 16 to temporarily confiscate Agrokor’s shares in Mercator in an effort to secure the enforcement of a misdemeanour decision to fine Agrokor €53.9 million.

The Slovenian Court has now declared the decision on the expropriation of the Agrokor shares null and void.

The Chief Executive Officer of Fortenova Group, Fabris Perusko, welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling.

We expect that we will be given back our shares as soon as possible and we plan to transfer Mercator to the Fortenova Group by the end of this year, he said in his statement.