The extraordinary administration at Croatian retail and food conglomerate Agrokor has published an update on the financial state of the business, noting that a new loan signed on 9 June will ‘secure the ongoing business of Agrokor and its operational companies’ for the time being.
The report covers the period 11 May to 10 June.
The loan, of €480 million, is secured by the bondholders headed by Knighthead Capital Management, while the financing tranche on the domestic market is in the care of Zagrebačka banka.
It will enable the embattled group to ‘complete preparations for the upcoming season, continue the regular business operations of Agrokor companies and provide the amount of up to €150 million to be used for repayment of old debt to suppliers,’ the administrators said.
Business Inefficiencies
The administrators noted that prior to their appointment, individual companies within the Agrokor group reported ‘directly to the CEO, resulting in an insufficient degree of transparency and a lack of a collective approach in resolving the group’s business challenges’.
It said that these inefficiencies have now ‘significantly improved since the launch of and coordination delivered by the new structure’.
The period in question also saw the appointment of a new advisor to the extraordinary trustee with oversight of all retail businesses, former CEO of Konzum, Teo Vujčić.
In addition, Zvonimir Mršić was appointed as an advisor to the extraordinary trustee for the food business, ‘thus strengthening the management team and establishing a structure that will allow for successful management of the operational business’.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
