We have news on the M&A front coming from the south of our region, where there have been reports aboutViva Fresh, a Priština based Kosovan grocery retailer, looking to sell a minority stake to theEuropean Bank for Reconstruction and Development(EBRD) in order to accelerate its growth and gain the necessary funding for potential acquisitions. Furthermore, selling a minority stake through a strategic agreement is not the sole focus of the Viva Fresh management, as it is reported that they would also like to attract private equity investors. The company's president and full owner, Xhevdet Rexhepi, outlined that he would like to start the negotiations off valuing his company at 10x and 12x its EBITDA (its EBITDA was EUR 11 million in 2015).

It should be noted that Viva Fresh is not unbeknownst to EBRD, having in mind that they were extended a EUR 6.5 million loan by this institution in June 2015, for the purpose of constructing a new logistics center and the opening of six new stores across Kosovo. This transaction was said to have reinforced the EBRD's commitment to strengthen the private sector in Kosovo through working with a strong local market brand and supporting its modern retail model to meet the needs of contemporary consumers.

Back to the news at hand, the first potential acquisitions that Viva Fresh would then plan to make in the future have been reported to be in the neighboring countries of Albania and Macedonia. Rexhepi has said that the ideal targets for them in this sense would be companies with revenues between EUR 20 million and EUR 25 million. Viva Fresh was established in 2003, it operates 31 stores in Kosovo and employs around 2400 people, including an in-house Mergers and Acquisitions team in charge of conducting the search for the aforementioned takeovers.