Peruško: There is a great need for workers in Agrokor, but they are not available in Croatia

Extraordinary Commissioner for Agrokor Fabris Peruško stated on Wednesday during a three-hour thematic session of the Parliamentary Committee for Economy that there will be no layoffs in the company and that the problem is that “there is work, but there are no people”. He announced that a clause on the transfer of workers’ rights to the new company will be included in the settlement agreement to prevent the interruption of their employment relationship.

About 2,500 workers have left Agrokor in the past year, and there are now about 50,000, said Peruško, adding that it is “an extremely seasonal company” and that it has a problem with a shortage of labor. In Agrokor, there is a great need for workers, but they are not available in Croatia.

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“All employment contracts of employees will be transferred to the new group, and we intend to maintain the maximum employment preserved during the extraordinary administration process,” emphasized Peruško in response to a question from Most representative Tomislav Panenić, who was interested in whether Agrokor workers would remain in their jobs or be reassigned in the new group.

Peruško also noted that the salaries of workers in Konzum have been increased during the extraordinary administration and that they have sent an order for all companies in the group to extend collective agreements.

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Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Martina Dalić, in response to a question from SDP representative Saša Đujić regarding the status of pension funds and whether part of the pension is endangered due to Agrokor, replied that “the Agrokor case has the characteristics of pre-bankruptcy or bankruptcy proceedings, so this process means the collection of creditors and their claims amounting to 57 billion kuna, and shareholders and owners will be compensated to the extent that creditors are paid.”

If there is any value left after the collection of claims, it will belong to the shareholders, she emphasized.

At the insistence of Most representative Nikola Grmoja, she explained that there is no possibility of any threat to pensions due to Agrokor. Pension funds held shares in certain Agrokor companies, but investment decisions are made by their management, not the Government, she added.

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“In relation to pension funds and the insistence on losing money in Agrokor, the fact and the question of how much Croatian funds have lost on some foreign shares, such as Teva, is being covered. Their investments are made in accordance with the law; sometimes they make a profit, sometimes they do not turn out well, but that is not a major political issue,” Dalić believes.

Peruško is convinced: The settlement process will be completed by July 10

At this session, the issue of consulting engagements in Agrokor, which led to the departure of his predecessor Ante Ramljak, was also raised, and Peruško, in response to Đujić’s question, said that it is “pure coincidence” that the company McKinsey, where he previously worked, was engaged.

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Peruško explained that the first group of consultants was engaged to work on restructuring and preparing the settlement, and that at the end of the process, creditors decided to engage a second group of consultants to verify whether the settlement was properly executed to protect the creditors.

“The creditors themselves determined the consultants who will review what the extraordinary administration did with the group of consultants. In that group of seven consulting teams is McKinsey, where I worked until 2013. It is a leading strategic company, and I believe it is beneficial for them to participate in the settlement for the creditors. It is a pure coincidence that the creditors’ council chose them, and that I had a history of working in that company. I did not participate in their selection, which occurred before I got involved in the process,” Peruško explained.

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In response to a question from HDZ representative Darko Horvat about whether he believes that the settlement will not cost Croatian taxpayers a dime, Peruško replied that he sees no possibility for taxpayers to participate in that process or pay any part because the law created a framework for creditors to agree among themselves.

“This company can only return value to creditors if it operates successfully in the future because it has no physical assets to sell,” said Peruško, who believes that the settlement process will be completed within the legally prescribed deadline by July 10.

Dalić stated that there is no fear that Croatia could be left without the land used by Agrokor, nor will this process have any impact on the state of land ownership because Agrokor is not its owner.

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“Agrokor uses just over 33,000 hectares of agricultural land, of which 31,000 was obtained through concessions and long-term leases,” she said, adding that the state will not lose much when looking at the claims of all institutions.

“All state institutions have reported claims worth 183.8 million euros, but when the already collected amounts are deducted, 171.1 million euros remain. Of that, 74.3 million euros is secured, while the remaining unsecured claims and collection will depend on business instruments,” she explained, adding that state companies must be treated the same as other creditors so that any “preferential treatment” is not viewed as state aid.

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Peruško emphasized that his primary goal was to sign a document with creditors. “We agreed on Sberbank’s participation in the process. Agreements stalled at some point, so we made every effort to reach an agreement with creditors,” he said.

Darinko Kosor: Agram, Adris, and Franck are dissatisfied with the preliminary agreement

Chairman of the Committee HSLS representative Darinko Kosor said that, according to his information, three companies are dissatisfied with the preliminary agreement, Agram, Adris, and Franck, and asked whether the settlement would be jeopardized if any of them contested the guarantees.

Peruško replied that Adris and Franck were involved in financing Agrokor as institutions and that their claims are treated as claims of financial creditors. “I understand the dissatisfaction, but that is a consequence of the historical business relationships that those two companies had with Agrokor, and the extraordinary administration has not deprived anyone of privileges,” he said, adding that Agram is currently contesting the guarantees.

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“Each creditor has the right to contest the claim of another creditor, and that is what Agram is currently doing, and we as the extraordinary administration cannot interfere in that part of the management process,” he noted.

Peruško also stated that he has no illusions that the settlement will be achieved with one hundred percent of the votes.

“The extraordinary administration cannot bear the burden of wrong business arrangements in the past. Our role is to ensure that suppliers who had debts go through this period with as few write-offs as possible. All Agrokor suppliers have had enough time over the past year to adjust their market position if their business was overly exposed to Agrokor, to focus on other companies, but also if their business moves led to financing Agrokor, to change their position. But we cannot expect this process to resolve the ownership structure of individual companies. This process will lead to a change in the ownership structure of Agrokor,” concluded Peruško.