Bosnian court opens bankruptcy proceedings against grain firm Zitopromet

The decision to launch the proceedings was taken on November 29, the Bijeljina commercial court said in a statement filed with the Banja Luka bourse on Monday.

All creditors are invited to submit their claims against Zitopromet in the next 30 days, the statement said.

The bankruptcy decision follows pre-bankruptcy proceedings which were launched at Zitopromet in October after the company's trade unions submitted a request with the Bijeljina court in June over payment arrears.

According to the court statement, Zitopromet has not been operational since November 2018. It still has 113 registered employees.

The court also said that the company ended 2018 with a 2.7 million marka ($1.5 million/1.4 million euro) loss, while its accumulated loss reached 6.2 million marka at the end of December.

Zitopromet's business assets totalled 17.3 million marka at the end of last year, while its total liabilities stood at 4.8 million marka, including short-term debt to financial institutions, suppliers, workers and the state.

Earlier this year, Zitopromet's owner Slobodan Pavlovic said he was still hoping to find a buyer for the troubled company, saying three potential investors - two form Bosnia and one from the US - were interested in the company. 

The company's shares last traded on the Banja Luka bourse on June 19, closing flat at 0.32 marka.

Zitopromet is based in Bijeljina in the Serb Republic, which together with the Federation forms Bosnia and Herzegovina.

(1 euro = 1.95583 marka)