Extraordinary Commissioner in Agrokor Ante Ramljak announced at the Lider conference Day of Great Plans that a settlement with creditors should be made by spring next year, that is, by the expiration of the extraordinary administration in the company.
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– Audit reports are being finalized, Agrokor has over 50 companies and in about ten to fifteen days, results will be presented to investors and then to the public. From day one, we are changing the business model of the companies and monitoring costs, and from day one we have been focused on restructuring. What lies ahead for the next six months is a settlement. My focus is to reach a settlement with creditors by spring next year. We have already started working on a draft settlement and have determined the direction, but it is still too early to present it. I can say that we have a clear vision of how we want to exit this process. I would not have accepted this job if I were not sure that a settlement would be reached. For the creditors themselves, there is no alternative, and that is the main reason why I accepted this job. I am still confident in that today, said Ramljak in an interview with the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Lider, Manuela Tašler.
Not wanting to speculate on how much of the claims creditors will be able to collect, and what all will be sold from Agrokor’s portfolio, Ramljak emphasized that Agrokor’s retail, primarily Konzum, compensated for the decline in revenue from April and May this year during the summer season, and added that it will record operational profit for the entire year of 2017, and in 2018 will be ready for investments and expansion of the sales network.
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There are offers for the takeover of Konzum and other companies, confirmed the extraordinary Agrokor commissioner, but the final decision on the sale is made by the creditors.
– I am confident that all Agrokor companies will achieve a good price. Previously, there was a lot of hope that something valuable could be obtained for a small value, but today the situation is such that the price will be real and market-based for Agrokor’s companies. It is satisfying for me that there is interest in the companies and that there is potential for their growth, said Ante Ramljak.
– Have you managed to pull all the skeletons out of the closet? – asked Manuela Tašler to Ramljak.
– There are a lot of closets in Agrokor, I haven’t opened them all yet. I have opened most of them, but not all – was the response, with the addition that there should not be any special surprises in the future.
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When asked to provide advice to Agrokor’s partners on how to position themselves in the future, Ramljak assessed that the atmosphere in society and the economy is positive, and that good growth and profits can be expected in the coming years. And when he spoke about the past, he recalled the first days after his appointment, stating that he barely slept six hours in the first four days, given the focus and engagement on securing financing.
In the end, he assessed that the key move that sealed Agrokor’s fate and ‘nailed the coffin’ was the acquisition of Mercator.
