Six months after the start of the Agrokor crisis, Ivica Todorić emphasizes that the ambitious expansion of the group under his leadership was a completely logical business path, and it is the government that could now destroy the company, reports Bloomberg.
In his first interview after stepping down as the head of Agrokor in April, Todorić claims that there were no strategic mistakes, except for insufficient communication. He stated that the plans related to the group’s operations, including the Acquisition of Mercator, would have been successfully realized if he had been given enough time to implement them.
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‘I certainly made mistakes, as every other person does, but I worked day and night for 40 years to build Agrokor. It is hard to single out one thing, but overall, our success is incredible. We created the largest company in this part of Europe,’ said Todorić.
– We had a clear plan and strategy, but the government did not allow us to implement them, claims Todorić.
Todorić considers himself guilty for not publicly responding in time to the creditors’ concerns. He claims that his biggest fault was not commenting on or denying the stories that were published about the problems in Agrokor at that time, but also that he did not have enough time to explain his moves.
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After the state takeover, Todorić remains the official owner of the group, but he has no voting rights regarding restructuring and determining business strategies. He believes that the events following his departure are an example of incompetence and lawlessness, and he is considering how to confront the government over the enactment of the so-called lex Agrokor law under which the state took over his business empire.
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– The acquisition of Mercator was, from a business perspective, logical, and resulted in the creation of the second largest retail chain in Southeast Europe, with 6 billion euros in revenue and 2 thousand stores. You must understand that implementing such complex processes takes some time, claims Todorić.
The audit identified potential irregularities in Agrokor’s financial statements, which Todorić denies, claiming that the government uses auditors to achieve its political goals.
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– I certainly made mistakes, as every other person does, but I worked day and night for 40 years to build Agrokor. It is hard to single out one thing, but overall, our success is incredible. We created the largest company in this part of Europe, said Todorić.
