ZAGREB, March 1, 2019 – The implementation of the settlement agreement between Agrokor’s creditors will start on 1 April when the management of the concern, currently run by the Emergency Administration, will be transferred to a new company called Fortenova Grupa, according to a decision made by Agrokor’s interim creditors’ council.
Fortenova Group is the new name for an umbrella company that will replace Agrokor d.d. and start operating on 1 April, according to a press release issued by Agrokor.
Of the 159 companies doing business within the Agrokor Group, 77 companies run by the Emergency Administration will be the first to undergo the implementation of the settlement deal.
Concerning the new corporate management structure, it is likely that the new, nine-member management board will include three executive directors. Current Emergency Administrator Fabris Peruško is a candidate for one of those three posts.
Deputy Emergency Administrator Irena Weber is to be nominated for the posts of deputy chief executive director and chief operating director.
The press release quotes Weber as saying that the procedure of emergency administration had laid down considerably healthier foundations for the group’s operations and that there was a clear vision of how to develop the core businesses.
The government-appointed extraordinary commissioner for Agrokor, Fabris Peruško, said on Thursday that the implementation of the debt settlement deal reached by creditors would mark the completion of the process of salvaging the food and retail conglomerate, adding that at least 50,000 jobs had been saved.
“With the implementation of the creditors’ settlement deal we are finalising the demanding process of salvaging the company that was on the brink of total collapse only two years ago,” Peruško told a press conference after a meeting of Agrokor’s Interim Council of Creditors.
Asked if the new owners would be allowed to sell their stakes as of April 1, Peruško said that the owners of the Fortenova Group would formally become the new owners of Agrokor on April 1 and could continue developing the company.
Asked until when he expected the settlement deal to be implemented by companies abroad, he said that most of those processes should be finalised within three to four months.
As for the employees, Peruško said that all their rights would be transferred to the new group and there would be no changes.
More news about Agrokor can be found in the Business section.
