ZAGREB, October 26, 2018 - The Zagreb High Commercial Court on Friday published a ruling whereby it rejected 87 complaints filed by creditors of the indebted Agrokor food and retail group against a Zagreb Commercial Court ruling of early July which confirmed a debt settlement agreement with the group's creditors in the process of emergency administration at Agrokor.
In its ruling of July 6, the Zagreb Commercial Court confirmed the debt settlement agreement that was accepted on July 4 by Agrokor's creditors in the process of emergency administration, and it ruled that the implementation of the settlement would be supervised by the court, the emergency administrator and the temporary board of creditors.
The court also ruled that the process of emergency administration would end once the settlement agreement was implemented and that the agreement would be in force as of the day when the ruling confirming the settlement was announced and that it would also apply to creditors who did not participate in the emergency administration procedure as well as to those who did participate and whose contested claims were subsequently determined.
The total claims of Agrokor's creditors with voting rights amounted to 33.76 billion kuna. Creditors with claims totalling 22.08 billion kuna (80.2% of creditors with voting rights) voted in favour of the debt settlement agreement, while creditors with claims totalling 4.7 billion kuna voted against.
The High Commercial Court rejected 87 complaints, and two creditors withdrew their complaints, the court said in its ruling today.
The government on Wednesday adopted a report on the implementation of the law on emergency administration at Agrokor, with Economy Minister Darko Horvat saying that the financial restructuring had been completed and the emergency administration had taken the necessary steps to start overall restructuring by implementing the settlement.
With the settlement agreement having been declared final, the process of its implementation will start and it is expected to last three to four months.
Agrokor emergency administrator Fabris Peruško said on Friday that the High Commercial Court's ruling dismissing appeals against the debt settlement agreement for the indebted food and retail group confirmed the lawfulness of the procedure to reach the settlement deal and was the most important precondition for starting the implementation of the settlement. "The High Commercial Court has fully confirmed the lawfulness of all stages of the procedure to reach agreement on debt settlement and have it supported by the creditors. The emergency administration is glad about this, and I believe that all creditors who voted for the settlement deal in July are too," said Peruško.
He added that the court ruling, delivered today, constituted the most important precondition for launching the implementation of the deal that would eventually enable the creditors to take over the company's management.
After the completion of the settlement process, Agrokor will be owned by the present creditors. The largest stakes will be held by Russian banks Sberbank and VTB (39.2 percent and 7.5 percent respectively) and bond holders (25 percent).
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