The Commercial Court in Zagreb has opened bankruptcy proceedings against the Agrokor Projekti company, whose sole founder, member and chief executive officer is Ivica Todoric, owing as much as HRK 233.5 million.
The proceedings were launched following a motion filed by Fortenova Group, the successor to the Agrokor agricultural and food conglomerate. Snjezana Vrkljan was appointed official receiver and a report hearing was scheduled for February 9 next year.
A report by an interim receiver submitted early this year shows that the debtor possesses shares in the state-owned HPB postal bank that can be cashed in, as well as shares in the Amsterdam-based Adria Group whose value is yet to be determined. The report says that although the company is under blockade, the debtor’s assets are enough to settle the debt.
Agrokor Projekti was established in February 2011 by Ivica Todoric, its sole founder, member and CEO. In November 2015 it increased its initial capital in rights from HRK 20,000 to as much as HRK 5.32 billion.
The company was the subject of a legal dispute between the former government-appointed administrator of Agrokor, Ante Ramljak, and the dispossessed owner Ivica Todoroic in which Ramljak moved for seizure of slightly over HRK 16 million from Agrokor Projekti.
According to media reports, this amount related to matured loans which Todoric as the owner of Agrokor granted to his company Agrokor Projekti. The agreement was signed by Todoric himself, the first time as the chairman of Agrokor’s management board and the second time as the CEO of Agrokor Projetkti.
Media reports also said that Agrokor Projekti was not part of the Agrokor conglomerate and was not covered by the law on emergency administration in systemic companies, dubbed Lex Agrokor, so it was possible to carry out debt enforcement proceedings against it. After all assets owned by Todoric were blocked, an injunction was issued in late 2017 preventing him from appropriating or encumbering his shares nominally valued at HRK 5.32 billion.
(€1 = HRK 7.56)
