ZAGREB, April 2, 2019 – The Konzum and Mercator supermarket chains and the Tisak tobacco and newspaper stands will constitute the core business of the new Fortenova Group, the successor to the Agrokor conglomerate, a source close to the new corporation’s management said on Monday and announced the resolution of non-core property and re-scheduling of a roll-up loan.
The new company’s focus will be on Konzum, Mercator and Tisak, the source said and added that the conglomerate’s non-core property, valued at 150 million euro, was a huge challenge.
The source underscored that the Konzum and Mercator supermarket chains were very important for local producers.
The source added that now was not a good time to sell shares of the new company as it had to create new value and that its components were not ready for an IPO procedure either, which was why reorganisation was required.
With regard to the rescheduling of a roll-up loan taken to settle Agrokor’s debts, the source said that negotiations were underway and that the rescheduled loan was expected to carry an interest rate of 8% or 8.5%, including all fees.
That loan amounts to 1.06 billion euro and currently has an interest rate of 11.5%, which is expected to grow to 14% by September, while the effective interest rate could be 18%, hence efforts are being made to re-schedule the loan before June.
The Fortenova Group has announced an analysis of financial costs incurred since the emergency administration in Agrokor was introduced.
The Fortenova Group officially started its business operations on Monday, taking over the Agrokor conglomerate’s business.
Of the total of 159 companies that comprised the Agrokor Group, following a settlement plan with creditors, 47 unsustainable companies have been transformed into mirror companies that will have the word “plus” added to their names, which means, for example, that Konzum will now operate under the name Konzum Plus, Jamnica will be renamed Jamnica Plus and so on.
Shares in the remaining 30 viable companies doing business in Croatia will be transferred to the Fortenova Group and after the completion of the transfer, those companies will exit the emergency administration procedure.
Shares in 82 companies operating outside Croatia and those companies that were not included in the emergency administration procedure will be transferred to the Fortenova Group at the same time as the remainder of the conglomerate’s property.
The emergency administration procedure will formally continue until all the old, unsustainable companies that were once part of Agrokor d.d. are taken over and Agrokor d.d. is struck from the court register.
More Agrokor news can be found in the Business section.
