ZAGREB, February 2, 2018 – Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Martina Dalić has met with the government-appointed emergency administrator for the heavily indebted Agrokor conglomerate to seek an explanation for the engagement of domestic consultants as subcontractors to the consulting firm AlixPartners in the restructuring of Agrokor, the Economy Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
The meeting took place on Thursday afternoon and also involved Alastair Beveridge, chief consultant on Agrokor restructuring at AlixPartners. Beveridge reiterated that the subcontractors had been hired in accordance with the usual practice of AlixPartners in similar projects elsewhere in the world. He said that this project, probably the largest such project in Europe at the moment, required local knowledge, expertise and work experience in domestic and international markets.
AlixPartners has found such experts with the best references at Alter Corporate Finance and Texo Management, who previously worked for Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Lazard, and their fees are lower than those of international consultants, Beveridge said according to the statement.
Ramljak said that AlixPartners had been chosen as the chief restructuring consultant among five reputable international companies with relevant experience, after showing strong references for international restructuring projects and proof that it had no previous business connections with Agrokor and/or its chief creditors and offering the most favourable price.
Ramljak and Beveridge also underscored the support of the Temporary Creditors’ Council for the work of the emergency administration and the consultants. The Creditors’ Council said earlier that their priority was to reach a settlement within the short time frame prescribed by the law.
Dalić asked the consultants, both domestic and foreign, to show maximum professionalism, commitment and focus in reaching a settlement and preserving jobs in Agrokor, the statement said.
In recent days media have said that Texo Management, the company where Ramljak had worked before he was appointed the emergency administrator for Agrokor, signed a consulting agreement with AlixPartners in April 2017 under which it collects 250,000 kuna weekly for its consulting services in restructuring Agrokor.
Ramljak said in November 2017 that services provided by more than 140 consultants would cost between 58 and 60 million euros, depending on the duration of the restructuring process.
In response to media reports about lucrative contracts for consulting firms, the emergency administration said on Tuesday evening that the consultancy fees amounted to below 1% of the group’s entire debt and were considerably lower than comparative figures elsewhere in the world.
Furthermore, AlixPartners said they were awarded this job in a tender and have hired local consultants who are more affordable, thus lowering total costs.
