Economy Minister Darko Horvat said on Wednesday that the Agrokor food and retail group has been stabilised and now has a future, which was now in the hands of its creditors, and he called on them to vote for the settlement deal at the court hearing scheduled for July 4.
Speaking at a session of the parliament’s Economy Committee, he said that Agrokor had been brought to the brink of bankruptcy by its former management.
“The company’s credit rating was downgraded several times, there were warnings about misrepresentation of its accounts, the share price of Agrokor companies’ fell, the first court-ordered seizures were launched, the accounts of Agrokor’s companies were blocked, the delivery of goods have stopped, the shelves of the biggest retailer (Konzum) were empty, there was no liquidity, there was uncertainty for thousands of employees who now still work at the group,” Horvat said.
Although Agrokor is a privately-owned conglomerate, the government, following the escalation of the crisis, recognised systemic risks from its failure which could have undermined the stability of Croatia’s entire economy, he added.
Despite the disputes among Agrokor’s creditors and suppliers over the past 14 months, today it is clear that the special law on emergency administration has prevented a disaster for the economy, Horvat said, adding that the Council of the European Union had adopted the law yesterday, making it part of the EU acquis.
This means that any proceeding in any EU member state related to Agrokor’s assets will be conducted under that law, Horvat reported to the committee, adding that the government had created a good European framework for solving the problem.
Now everything is in the hands of Zagreb’s Commercial Court which will hold a court hearing on July4, and Agrokor’s creditors who, after 14 months of negotiations, unanimously accepted the debt-for-equity settlement proposal, Horvat said.
He told the committee that the draft of the agreed settlement on which creditors would vote on July 4 was supported by those who accounted for almost 85 percent of all debt claims, and urged all creditors to vote for the settlement. Horvat said he is confident that the settlement process would be completed successfully.
