However, the final agreement to save Agrokor has still not been signed.
After a meeting of representatives of Agrokor’s banks and suppliers held on Saturday afternoon, Josip Budimir, a member of the board of directors of Franck, said that Agrokor’s suppliers had agreed to join the agreement on a moratorium on the existing financial obligations of Agrokor. The standstill agreement should be signed next week, reports Večernji List on April 2, 2017.
The meeting brought together representatives of banks and suppliers, to which Agrokor owes about 16 billion kuna. They discussed the terms of payment and priority order. “We have agreed to join the standstill arrangement, and we are full of optimism that we will sign it next week. Representatives of the banks must obtain consent from their management boards,” said Budimir.
The participants of the meeting added that the details of the standstill agreement would be known next week, after all creditors give their consent, including the state. “It is not possible to unfreeze Agrokor’s bank accounts until we get help from the state. We cannot do it alone by force. We hope that this will be urgently done in order to regulate cash flows,” said Budimir.
Borislav Centner, deputy chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Zagreb Stock Exchange and a board member of Erste Bank, pointed out that “as far as the banks are concerned, the standstill agreement has been agreed.” Asked whether the agreement had been signed between Agrokor and banks, Centner replied that “banks and large creditors want to invite all other smaller banks and factoring companies to join the arrangement.” “The goal is to support the company and adopt a quality restructuring plan,” said Centner.
Asked whether the rumours that Agrokor majority owner Ivica Todorić was against the agreement were true, participants of the meeting said that they “do not have any such information,” adding that Todorić was not against the arrangement.
Representatives of banks added that the resolution of the situation “must include suppliers and the state, because the state is one of the reasons why Agrokor’s bank accounts have been frozen.” On Friday, government and some suppliers froze the bank accounts due to unpaid taxes and other financial obligations.
Participants added that they did not discuss the so-called “lex Agrokor,” a special law which the government has sent to Parliament and which should enable it to appoint emergency management teams to systemically important companies.
