One of Agrokor’s creditors will propose changes to the ownership structure.
The Deputy Executive Director of the Russian bank, VTB, one of Agrokor’s creditors, will suggest a change in the ownership structure of the Agrokor group, as part of the debt restructuring plan prepared by lenders, reports tportal.hr on June 6, 2017.
“Creditors are currently working on a plan that will be presented to banks, to a wider circle of lenders, as well as to Eurobond owners. The debt should be restructured, debt servicing fees reduced, and the company should start operating in full scope,” said the first Deputy Executive Director of VTB Bank, Yuri Soloviev.
He did not say when the plan would be presented to other creditors or what changes would be made to the shareholder structure. Creditors have until Friday to submit their claims, after which a restructuring plan will be defined.
Agrokor owes about 300 million euros to VTB Bank, and more than a billion euros to Sberbank, the largest Russian lender. The VTB official said that, when his bank approved the loan, Agrokor’s total debt was approximately 5 to 5.5 times higher than EBITDA. According to the latest official data, Agrokor’s total debt amounted to 45 billion kunas at the end of September last year and was six times higher than the share capital.
“When we made the decision to approve the loan, the company’s financial metrics were much better, and the debt was considerably smaller, after that, we discovered that there were some inaccuracies in Agrokor’s books, which, after my public statements in March, prompted internal investigations within the group,” said Soloviev.
Asked whether his bank would consider the possibility of replacing the debt for a share in the ownership of Agrokor, Soloviev replied, “This is an open question, but we would not do it at the present time. The shareholder structure is unchanged at the moment, but this could, of course, be changed during the restructuring.”
Asked if his bank would propose a change in the ownership structure, he replied in the affirmative.
