July 28 (SeeNews) - The receiver of Croatia's ailing food-to-retail concern Agrokor, Ante Ramljak, said the concern's loss-making Bosnian-based unit Velpro will be liquidated.
Velpro was established only last year with the aim of further developing Agrokor's wholesale and logistical business activities in Bosnia.
Velpro has been seeing major losses, Ramljak told a news conference in Sarajevo on Thursday following a meeting with Bosnian government officials, according to an audio file of the news conference posted on the website of Bosnia's state-level government.
A total of 161 Velpro employees will be transferred to other Agrokor-run companies, while the remainder will be made redundant, Ramljak said.
He reiterated that Agorkor's retailer Konzum will retain under its management 176 stores in Bosnia, while its remaining 83 stores in the country will be taken over by its Slovenian peer Mercator. The Slovenian retailer will take over the stores it ran prior to its acquisition by Agrokor in 2014.
Ramljak added that Konzum's turnover has fallen sharply, and Mercator is expected to salvage the situation. Earlier, Ramljak had said the transfer will begin on August 1.
In 2014, following the takeover of Mercator by Agrokor, Konzum was put in charge of retail operations in Croatia and in Bosnia. Mercator's fast-moving consumer goods stores in Croatia and Bosnia were leased out at arm's length principle to Konzum.