Serbia’s Alta Retail has reached an agreement with Croatia’s Fortenova Group to acquire its Serbian retail assets, including Idea Marketi.
The North Macedonian Commission received a notification from Alta Retail regarding the proposed transaction.
Belgrade-based Alta Retail, part of the Alta Group, is a newly formed entity specifically established for this acquisition.
While Alta Group primarily focuses on banking and financial services in Serbia, including operations in North Macedonia via Alta Banka Bitola, Alta Group Skopje, and ZOIL Macedonia (Bitola), Alta Retail itself has no prior business activities.
Scope Of The Acquisition
The deal involves several companies active in the Serbian retail sector, namely Idea Marketi, M-Profil SPV, mStart Business Solutions, Super Kartica and Enna Fruit.
Idea Marketi, formerly Mercator-S, is one of the biggest grocery retail groups in Serbia, with over 300 Idea stores, 33 Roda markets and two Mercator hypermarkets.
Fortenova Group previously maintained a retail presence in North Macedonia through Mercator Skopje, but the entity is now in liquidation and no longer active.
The Commission for Protection of Competition is preliminarily reviewing the concentration to determine if it falls under the scope of the Law on Protection of Competition. A final decision is pending.
Financial Value
The Serbian weekly Nedeljnik, citing two sources close to the operation, reported that Alta Retail has purchased the five Serbian companies for €40 million.
However, the total enterprise value is significantly higher, estimated at €140 million, as Alta Retail is also assuming €100 million in debt.
The acquisition follows a period of declining financial performance for Idea Marketi, with EBITDA falling from €76.8 million in 2023 to €50.3 million in 2025, while net profit plummeted in the same period from €14.1 million to a loss of €34.5 million.
Market Consolidation
This deal comes only days after Serbian media reported that local retailer Aman purchased the DIS hypermarket chain.
According to Nedeljnik, Aman paid €50–51 million for DIS’s capital, bringing the total enterprise value to €90 million, including DIS’s €40 million debt.