ZAGREB, January 31, 2018 - In response to media claims about lucrative contracts of firms hired for consultancy work in the restructuring of the debt-laden Agrokor Group, the emergency administration in this private retail and food conglomerate stated on Tuesday evening that the consultancy fees amounted to below 1% of the group's entire debt and they were considerably lower than comparative figures elsewhere in the world.
Furthermore, AlixPartners, a company specialised in corporate turnaround and restructuring, underscores that they have been selected for consultancy services at an advertised tender and that they have also hired local consultants who are more affordable, thus lowering the whole costs than in the event that the team of consultants should include only international experts.
As many as 77 companies are currently subject to emergency administration and that over 160 individual companies and businesses within the conglomerate are undergoing overhaul, and this "represents one of the most complex processes of this kind in Europe now", and requires professional support of a significant number of experts and consultants of different profiles and competences, the Agrokor Emergency Administration says in its response to Hina's queries about media reports that Texo Management, a company where Ante Ramljak used to work before being appointed Agrokor's Emergency Administrator, charges 234,000 kuna per week for consultancy services provided by AlixParnters.
The emergency administration recalls that the claims from creditors exceed 57.7 billion kuna, which is a huge amount in the European proportions, and is higher than the group's assets which is why it is a demanding task to keep Agrokor in operation.
Over 140 experts have been hired to conduct the project of restructuring, the administration says in its statement.
It also underlines that costs of subcontractors, hired by AlixPartners, have no direct contracts with Agrokor and are included in the costs the consultancy firm has.
The administration states that depending on the duration of the process of emergency administration and on success in reaching settlements with creditors, overall costs for professional consultants is estimated to range between 58-69 million euro, which is below 1% of the conglomerate's entire debt, whereas the average comparative costs in 26 comparative cases is 3.3%.
