The bankruptcy plan of the Viktor Lenac Shipyard has been accepted by a majority vote of creditors, according to which the majority owners of Lenc will become Uljanik from Pula and Tankerska plovidba from Zadar. A special hearing to announce the decision on the adoption of the bankruptcy plan is scheduled for March 16, announced at the conclusion of the Creditors’ Assembly by the bankruptcy judge of the Rijeka Commercial Court, Daniela Korlević.
After the announcement of the decision, all parties in the proceedings will have the right to appeal to the High Commercial Court in Zagreb. The announcement of the voting results on the bankruptcy plan was met with applause from the workers’ representatives and discontent from the representatives of the cooperators. The workers, around 560 of them, are satisfied with the adoption of the bankruptcy plan and the new ownership structure, and that they can finally work under normal conditions, stated Damir Bačinović, the commissioner of the Metalworkers’ Union of Croatia at Viktor Lenac.
With the acceptance of the bankruptcy plan, yesterday’s government announcement was also accepted that the Ministry of Finance will sell its claims of 326 million kuna to Uljanik from Pula (which has already purchased the claims of IFC and DEG) and to Tankerska plovidba from Zadar for 10 million kuna (with the obligation to invest 58 million kuna in the modernization of Lenc over the next five years), and these companies would acquire a total of 60.4 percent ownership stake in Lenc. The ownership structure of Lenc will also include HBOR (16.08 percent), Croatia osiguranje (2.3 percent), the Fund for Development and Employment (3.9 percent), the Croatian Privatization Fund (9.4 percent), while smaller stakes will be held by OTP banka, R.L.E Obrt, HZMIO, REGOS, HZZO, and HZZ.
According to the bankruptcy plan prepared by the bankruptcy administrator Ombretta Belić Ilijašić, secured creditors will write off part of the total claims of 690 million kuna, and part of 144 million kuna will be converted into ownership stakes. Creditors of the first higher payment order, i.e., the funds will also convert their claims into ownership stakes, and workers will be paid a total of around 15 million kuna. Claims of creditors of the general payment order, among which are about 273 million kuna in claims from cooperators, will be written off. At the beginning of the bankruptcy, total claims of creditors were recognized at around one billion kuna, and based on the bankruptcy plan, a total of around 820 million kuna in claims will be written off as the total assets of the shipyard are estimated at 263 million kuna and are encumbered with secured rights.
