Agrokor’s biggest lender makes sure to keep a tight grip.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 6th of June, 2018, following a meeting in the government, Sberbank’s Maxim Poletaev said that a compromise in reaching a settlement was nearing, that there was a dramatic change in the situation, and that Russia’s Sberbank would keep hold of its stake in Agrokor, but he remained unwilling to state just how much that could potentially be.
On Tuesday, Sberbank’s Maxim Poletaev, met with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, after which meeting he made the statement that a compromise on the settlement isn’t far away, and that he himself believes that such a settlement could be reached by the end of the month, according to a report from HRT.
Frenki Laušić, a journalist from Jutarnji list, stated to Otvoreno on Wednesday that, according to information from the participants from the meeting which took place at Banski Dvori, Poletaev sent several messages – that the current creditors will remain Agrokor’s owners for at least two years, that Agrokor will remain whole, and after three or four years, it will be sold. The Croatian Government will be consulted on the eventual sale.
Laušić also stated in an article published in Jutarnji list that Poletaev had said that Sberbank was surprised when Ivica Todorić announced in Moscow back in February 2017 that he needed an additional 100 million euro, because he had previously assured them that by refinancing the loan from November 2016, there was no liquidity problem within Agrokor. Poletaev then personally pledged to approve this loan.
At the meeting which took place in Zagreb on Wednesday, he said that everyone now had to deal with the losses, and that Ivica Todorić must be prosecuted before the Croatian courts. In addition to meeting with various suppliers, Poletaev also stated that Sberbank will have a 40 percent ownership stake in Agrokor.
