December 21 (SeeNews) - Suppliers and creditors of Croatia's ailing concern Agrokor endorsed a draft debt settlement plan which foresees a debt-for-equity swap and a partial debt write-off, Agrokor said late on Wednesday.
Under the plan, presented to the council of creditors by Agrokor trustee Ante Ramljak, creditors will take full control of a new holding company and its units, to which the assets of the sound segments of the Agrokor group will be transferred to, the concern said in a statement.
The newly-founded companies will carry a sustainable amount of debt owed by the old companies of Agrokor, while the remainder of the debt which cannot be paid shall remain with the old insolvent companies which shall be liquidated. Therefore, a portion of the liabilities and the remaining debt of the old concern will be liquidated.
Further talks with creditors will be held over the next few months, with a final settlement expected to be reached in early April.
"The creditors’ representatives in the Temporary creditors council gave a green light to the Extraordinary Administration to move forward with the proposal of the settlement plan following the outline of the presented draft," Agrokor said.
Food-to-retail Agrokor concern has some 5,700 Croatian and foreign creditors, which have registered around 12,000 claims relating to different payment classes, and various legal and factual circumstances.
The value of recognised claims amounts to some 41.5 billion kuna ($6.5 billion/5.5 billion euro), while the total value of challenged claims amounts to 16.5 billion kuna.
Last week, Agrokor suppliers established an association to protect their interests. They said that they want to work out a settlement together with the banks, other creditors and the extraordinary management of Agrokor that will be primarily in their interest.
The founders of the association are confectionery producer Kras, coffee and snacks manufacturer Franck, diversified conglomerate Adris, food producer Podravka, as well as other food and drink producers and trade companies such as Alcagroup, Atlantic, AWT, Badel 1862, TDR, Granolio, Saponia, Vindija, Zito and Mlinar, and insurer Croatia Osiguranje.
($=7.54839 euro)