The company will advise the government-appointed commissioner.
Ante Ramljak, the government-appointed commissioner for Agrokor, the largest privately-owned company in Croatia, announced on Tuesday that AlixPartners had been selected as consultants for restructuring of the company, reports Večernji List on April 25, 2017.
The contract with AlixPartners was signed on Monday, said Ramljak, adding that, after an analysis, they “decided to select the best bidder according to quality, references and price.” A total of six specialized restructuring firms participated in the tender for consultants. In addition to AlixPartners, the companies in question were Ernst&Young, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Roland Berger and KPMG.
“This is a company that will help us in the task which is ahead of us. Their representatives already came to the company yesterday, they started with their jobs, and in the next 12 months we expect to successfully finish this process,” Ramljak told reporters. He added that Agrokor’s real debts would be known after 10 June. “There are certain projections, but I do not want to go public with them.” He said that new partners face such problems on a daily basis and added that they were convinced of the positive outcome of this case.
“I plan to spend 12 months here, no more than that. The goal is to complete the settlement within 12 months,” said Ramljak.
According to data for the first nine months of last year, AlixPartners is the world’s fifth largest company in the restructuring consultancy area. The company has worked on a number of important restructuring processes, for example Parmalat, General Motors, VION Food Group…
Ramljak will this week travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina for talks with the authorities in the country about the crisis and plans for future operations. He should meet in Sarajevo with Bosnian Prime Minister Denis Zvizdić, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Mirko Šararović and other officials who have so far expressed concern about possible outflow of capital from Bosnia and Herzegovina to cover Agrokor’s debts in Croatia.
Agrokor-owned companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina provide jobs for more than 5,000 employees. The key part of Agrokor’s business activities in Bosnia is the Konzum retail chain, which operates in that country as an independent company. In previous conversations about the possible consequences of the Agrokor crisis, it was said that debts towards suppliers in Bosnia and Herzegovina currently amount to about 130 million Bosnian marks (about 66.5 million euros).
Agrokor’s companies in Bosnia are not burdened with debts and are stable in their business operations, and suppliers have expressed interest in continuing to cooperate, under the condition that they are provided guarantees for regular payment of the delivered goods.
