Who owns Mercator?
Mercator is owned by Fortenova Group (Croatia), which has owned the brand since 23 April 2021.[1][2]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Fortenova Grupa — Portfolio, Fortenova grupa d.d. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Fortenova grupa d.d. reported
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇭🇷 Croatia, Zagreb
- Origin
- 🇸🇮 Slovenia, Ljubljana
- Founded
- 1949
- Category
- Home, garden & DIY › Retailer own brands › Grocery own brands
- Last verified
- · 2 sources
About Mercator
Mercator is the largest retail chain in Slovenia and, to its own customers, "the best neighbour". Established in 1949, it runs 323 smaller stores, 46 supermarkets, 24 hypermarkets, nine cash-and-carry units and 126 franchise shops, and claims a list of Slovenian firsts: the first loyalty card, the first online store, the first sustainable shopping bags. The same brand also trades in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Serbia, where its hypermarkets sit in Belgrade and Novi Sad.
Ownership timeline of Mercator
- 2021 – present Fortenova Group [1][2] reported
Where Mercator sits in Fortenova Group
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Fortenova Group ownership tree →
See the full Fortenova Group brand portfolio (11) →
Other brands owned by Fortenova Group
Fortenova Group controls 11 brands on Brandtree, 5 of them in home, garden & diy.
Also in home, garden & diy
Other brands in grocery own brands, and who owns them
The 170 brands in grocery own brands on Brandtree belong to 55 owners. The largest is Cencosud, with 12; Fortenova Group has 4.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Bretas | Cencosud | 🇨🇱 Chile |
| Lucerne | Albertsons | 🇺🇸 United States |
| City Gross | Axfood | 🇸🇪 Sweden |
| Chalo | Empire | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| Checkers | Shoprite Group | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| Amanhecer | Jerónimo Martins | 🇵🇹 Portugal |
| K-Citymarket | Kesko | 🇫🇮 Finland |
| Farmer's Market | Loblaw | 🇨🇦 Canada |
About the owner: Fortenova Group
Fortenova Group is a privately held company headquartered in Zagreb, Croatia. Brandtree records 11 brands under its control.
Fortenova Group is the largest food and retail group in Croatia and one of the largest in south-eastern Europe, operating in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro. It says it holds more than a hundred brands, and organises them into divisions: retail, loyalty programmes, beverages, business-to-business supply, food, information technology and real estate. Its shape today is the result of a decade of disposals rather than acquisitions, and its food division has been reduced to a single company, the meat processor PIK Vrbovec.
Fortenova Group: full profile, brands and acquisition history →
🇸🇮 Mercator and other Slovenian brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 31 brands that began in Slovenia. 10 of them (32%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Mercator among them.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Mercator?
The parent company of Mercator is Fortenova Group, a privately held company headquartered in Croatia.
Is Mercator Slovenian or Croatian?
Mercator originated in Slovenia in 1949, but it is owned today by Fortenova Group, which is headquartered in Croatia. So Mercator is a Slovenian-origin brand under Croatian ownership.
Since when has Fortenova Group owned Mercator?
Fortenova Group has owned Mercator since 23 April 2021.
Is Mercator still owned by Fortenova Group?
Yes. As of 26 October 2026, Mercator is still owned by Fortenova Group. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (2) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Fortenova Grupa — Portfolio — Fortenova grupa d.d., Official document; retrieved 23 September 2026.
- [2] Business report of the Mercator Group and the company Poslovni sistem Mercator d.d. for the period 1–9 2021 — Poslovni sistem Mercator d.d., Annual report; retrieved 26 October 2026.
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