ZAGREB, April 18, 2018 – Agrokor’s emergency administration is working on the final text of a debt settlement plan between the company’s creditors, and Economy Minister Martina Dalić on Wednesday expressed confidence that the plan would ensure the stability of Agrokor’s future operations, enable creditors to settle their claims and give a boost to companies making up the Agrokor conglomerate.
Speaking at a thematic session of the parliament’s Economy Committee dedicated to Agrokor, Dalić said that the process of emergency administration in Agrokor and its goals – ensuring the stability of the economy and continuation of Agrokor’s operations – had been achieved to a significant extent, and that the debt settlement plan would ensure the stability of the conglomerate’s future operations and collection of claims by its creditors, as well as give an additional boost to Agrokor companies’ operations.
Addressing the committee, Emergency Administrator Fabris Peruško said that over the past seven weeks since his appointment, his main objective has been to sign a document on debt settlement in which creditors would define all key elements and aspects of their agreement. He added that during that time one of Agrokor’s biggest creditors, Sberbenk, had joined in the process and a that model for the payment of the border debt had been agreed to as well.
Peruško recalled that creditors reached an agreement in principle on the key elements of a debt settlement plan on April 10, and that the Commercial Court approved the prolongation of the emergency administration process for three months, until July 10.
Speaking to the Committee members about the agreement between the creditors, Peruško said that, with regard to relations between companies making up the Agrokor group, the operation of the future Agrokor group would be based on the so-called arm’s length principle, meaning that they would be equal and mutually independent.
“In order to minimise the possibility of a systemic risk repeating in the future, the companies are expected not to borrow from one another, while borrowing between the companies and the holding company will be of a very limited scope, necessary to optimise the capital structure,” said Peruško.
Peruško also explained in detail to the committee members the eight key elements of the debt settlement plan, including the corporate structure of the new Agrokor group, the part of the creditors’ agreement concerning the treatment of creditors whose claims date back to the time before the introduction of the emergency administration, and the new group’s debt and capital structure.
