The debt-for-equity settlement deal with the creditors of the indebted food and retail group Agrokor was unanimously approved by the company's temporary creditors' council on Tuesday afternoon. Following the vote, the settlement has to formally be cleared in a court hearing.

Earlier on Tuesday, the state-appointed emergency administrator at Agrokor, Fabris Perusko, along with members of the creditor’s council and Agrokor’s suppliers, met with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic. Perusko told reporters after the meeting that Plenkovic was briefed about the settlement deal.

“We’ve been working on a settlement for the last several months, we finalised the details over the last few weeks, we’ve harmonised everything with a large share of creditors who are important for the voting process, and we have verified everything with legal teams, so I do not expect any major problems (with the settlement),” Perusko reporters when asked if he expected problems in court.

A representative of suppliers, Marica Vidakovic of the Kras chocolate factory, said that although the process was not over yet, the largest and most difficult part of the job has been completed.

“A thank you is in order, among others, to the government, because you have to admit it was politically brave to go with this legal framework, and Croatia’s business community should thank the prime minister and all those who created a positive atmosphere and a legal framework for the process to be completed without major consequences for Croatia’s economy,” Vidakovic said, referring to the special law, dubbed in the media Lex Agrokor, which was passed in April 2017 and which allowed for state-appointed emergency administration to take over the company.

A representative of Russia’s Sberbank, the single largest creditor of Agrokor with a €1.1 billion claim, Sergei Volk, said that his bank would support the settlement plan.

“I am glad that we have reached an agreement. Everybody is happy, everybody is a little bit unhappy, but this is a process where we had many parties, and it is very complex,” Volk told reporters.

According to recent media speculations, Russian banks Sberbank and VTB should get a 47 percent stake at the restructured Agrokor. American hedge fund Kinghthead Capital would get 12 percent, with Croatian banks getting another 12 percent.

The details of the settlement deal are expected to be released to the public later on Tuesday.

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