ZAGREB, May 3, 2018 – The emergency administration in the ailing Agrokor food and retail conglomerate will submit a proposal to the Zagreb Commercial Court on the composition of the creditors’ council and the categorisation of creditors into groups, Agrokor told Hina on Thursday and added that interpretations by some creditors that a settlement would not be possible by the legally defined deadline of July 10 were unfounded.
“Interpretations by some creditors that a settlement between creditors and Agrorkor won’t be possible within the legally defined deadline are not founded on facts,” Agrokor said.
The High Commercial Court overturned the ruling by the Zagreb Commercial Court which defined that Agrokor’s creditors’ council consists of five members and that creditors would be categorised into special groups, ordering that the case be sent back to the first-instance court for reconsideration.
Agrokor believes that with this ruling the High Commercial Court expressed its opinion that the explanation on the basis of which the Commercial Court delivered its ruling wasn’t clearly defined. “That is why next week we will submit a proposal to the Commercial Court about the number of members of the creditors’ council and on categorising creditors into groups, and more clearly explain our proposal,” Agrokor said.
Agrokor underscored that the creditors’ council can be formed as soon as creditors select a representative for each group and added that it was in the interest of creditors themselves to do that as soon as possible. However, if that were not to happen, there would still be no obstacles to a settlement being reached because the temporary creditors’ council has the same rights and obligations as the permanent creditors’ council.
Claims by the Franck company that the High Commercial Court ruling means that a settlement cannot be reached by the legally prescribed deadline doesn’t hold water. An agreement was reached in principle on April 10 with the support of the majority of creditors necessary to reach a settlement and as long as that is the case, reaching a settlement is not in question, Agrokor added.
The process is taking its course and as the settlement draws closer there is more work in this exceptionally complex matter, the emergency administration concluded.
Franck, a Croatian coffee, tea and snacks company, stated on Wednesday that it would not be possible for the creditors’ council to be established by 10 July, after the High Commercial Court accepted the complaints of ten local and foreign creditors and quashed the decision on establishing a creditors’ council along the lines of the differentiation of creditors into five groups.
On 27 April, the High Commercial Court made public its ruling of 5 April on sustaining the objections of Franck and other nine domestic and foreign suppliers and overruled the ruling by the Zagreb Commercial Court of 26 January on setting up a council of creditors based on their categorisation into five groups.
