ZAGREB, February 21, 2018 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that the process of emergency administration and talks on a settlement in the ailing Agrokor food conglomerate would continue, that the government was conducting consultations so that it could recommend the appointment of a new emergency administration to the Commercial Court, and that, until then, Ante Ramljak would continue doing his job.
“My main message to all employees, creditors and suppliers is that the process of emergency administration and the settlement process are continuing and that Agrokor is functioning normally together with all its companies. The government is conducting consultations so that it could make a recommendation to the Commercial Court to appoint a new emergency administration. In the meantime, Mr Ramljak will continue to do his job as he has until now and there will not be any suspension of the company’s operations or emergency administration and there is no danger whatsoever of the entire process being destabilised,” Plenković told reporters. He added that Ramljak’s resignation did not surprise him.
The government discussed the situation in Agrokor all day. The company confirmed on Wednesday morning that the emergency administrator in the conglomerate, Ante Ramljak, had tendered his irrevocable resignation to Prime Minister Plenković on Tuesday so as not to become an obstacle to the reaching of a settlement.
“Together with my associates and employees of Agrokor, I have stabilised business, we have preserved employment, prevented the ruin of suppliers and created the prerequisites so that now creditors can and should negotiate a final settlement. Unfortunately, the uncertainty that has been created concerning my staying in the position of emergency administrator is strongly working against this process. I am irrevocably resigning as emergency administrator so as not to personally become an obstacle to the reaching of a settlement. I thank the creditors and employees of Agrokor, the only ones who are important and for whom the procedure of emergency administration exists, for their trust and support,” Ramljak said in his explanation of the resignation.
Under the law on emergency administration in companies of systemic importance for Croatia, the Zagreb Commercial Court can sack an emergency administrator and appoint a new one at any time at the government’s proposal.
The law specifies that the emergency administrator can be anyone who meets the criteria for a board member pursuant to the Law on Companies. He can have deputies who are also appointed by the court at the government’s proposal. The Zagreb Commercial Court is also the only body competent for supervising an emergency administrator.
