ZAGREB, June 1, 2018 – Agrokor emergency administrator Fabris Peruško said on Thursday that creditors’ negotiations on a settlement deal had ended, adding that legal formalities would now follow so that the settlement could be concluded and implemented. “The creditors’ negotiations on the settlement deal finally ended today. We have a job ahead of us, we need to turn all agreements reached into legally binding and implementable solutions,” Peruško told the press.
He told reporters that members of a temporary creditors council and large creditors held talks this week about the remaining outstanding issues and the result of the talks was a settlement deal. “The emergency administration and advisors are now working on the final text of the settlement proposal so that we can send it to the temporary creditors’ council as soon as possible,” Peruško said. “This is why we can say that the settlement train has left the station,” he stressed.
Commenting on the details about the future ownership and other details of the settlement deal with the suppliers and Sberbank, Peruško said suppliers would be paid the border debt, in accordance with previous agreements, adding that a solution had also been found for suppliers with financial bills of exchange. He said Sberbank had given up on entering the roll-up loan, meaning that Agrokor’s financial obligations in that regard would not be increased, and the conditional swap of 18 percent of shares in Mercator for a stake in Agrokor, its mother company, has been agreed.
Peruško said that three companies were standing in the way of the settlement agreement: Agram, Alca and Adris. Agrokor creditors Adris Group, Agram and Alca did not agree to an agreement with the temporary creditors’ council on Wednesday, saying they were not allowed to be represented by a common agent, but they had to file their claims individually instead.
However, on Thursday, Dubravko Grgić of Agram expressed readiness on behalf of the company to accept the deal offered by the future Agrokor owners. “Agram and the future Agrokor owners are yet to sign the deal, but Mr Grgić’s expression of readiness is a step forward in that direction,” Peruško said.
He added that talks were underway with representatives of Alca whose claims, according to unofficial information, amount to 130 million kuna.
