Nice job if you can get it.
Since the establishment of the extraordinary administration in Agrokor, its consultants have been paid by the company 321.38 million kuna plus VAT. The extraordinary administration, which is now headed by Fabris Peruško, is served by 141 external consultants and advisors, which means that an average advisor receives almost 6,000 kuna a day, reports tportal.hr on May 16, 2018.
While the administration was headed by Ante Ramljak, he announced that services provided by 141 consultants who cost the company between 435 and 517 million kuna in total, which is in line with the current costs. Since the adoption of Lex Agrokor, the consultants have received around 800,000 kuna a day, or 5,700 kuna per day per advisor.
Agrokor has not yet released more specific information about the fees paid to consultancy Texo Management (where Ramljak used to work), Altera Savjetovanja (which employs Branimir Bricelj, a member of the group which wrote “Lex Agrokor”), and the Šavorić law firm (whose lawyers wrote the law).
However, according to the companies’ financial statements, it is evident that 2017 was an outstanding business year for them. Jutarnji List has published invoices which show that Texo Management and Altera have received around 250,000 kuna a week. If the amount is multiplied by eight months of their engagement in Agrokor just last year, they have earned about eight million kuna.
It should be noted that former Deputy Prime Minister Martina Dalić was advised by people from these companies during the drafting of the Lex Agrokor and that they later worked for Agrokor through Alix Partners. They also allegedly participated in the selection of AlixPartners as the primary consultants in Agrokor, which then employed them for substantial fees.
Ramljak stated earlier that the cost of consultants was about one percent of the total debt of the group and that Agrokor’s advisers, considering the complexity of the case, were reasonably inexpensive. Also, the extraordinary administration and the government like to point out that advisors are being paid by creditors, and not by Agrokor.
The total cost of consultants would be considerably higher if the Commercial Court in Zagreb did not forbid Agrokor to hire a new wave of consultants who were supposed to confirm the draft of the settlement which is currently being written. In early May, the Court annulled the temporary creditor council’s decision on the engagement of additional advisers, including McKinsey, PJT Partners, Aking Gump, as well as the Croatian company Caper, Buterin&Posavec law firm and others.
The Court banned Peruško from making any payments to them, as that would further reduce Agrokor’s assets, which are insufficient as it is to settle the claims of all the creditors.
Translated from tportal.hr (reported by Nikola Sučec).
