April 11 (SeeNews) - Croatia's ailing concern Agrokor said its creditors have signed a debt settlement term sheet which sets a framework for the drafting of the actual text of the settlement, based on filed claims and their legal status.
The term sheet includes the corporate structure of the new Agrokor Group, treatment and form of settlement of pre-petition claims, new debt of the concern and its capital structure, a special arrangement with suppliers on settlement of the border debt and the settlement implementation, Agrokor said in a statement on Tuesday.
Since the creditors have agreed upon the key elements of the settlement, the Commercial Court of Zagreb issued a decision prolonging the period of crisis management of Agrokor by a further three months on April 6, the concern said.
"We are truly proud that we have, in one year, reached the final stage of this very demanding and difficult process in which almost 6,000 creditors are participating with more than 57 billion kuna ($9.5 billion/7.7 billion euro) of filed claims. Simultaneously, the Agrokor system has been stabilised, all operational companies are performing well and their operating profit is increasing, while paychecks to all employees as well as all current expenses are being timely paid," said Irena Weber, deputy emergency manager of Agrokor.
The debt settlement term sheet was signed by all members of the Interim Creditors' Council of Agrokor, representatives of the Suppliers’ Association and the representative of Russian bank VTB.
The creditors of Agrokor will use the additional three months to finalise the text of the settlement deal. The crisis manager will submit the finalised proposal to the Creditors’ Council for approval. After the settlement is adopted by creditors, the government-appointed crisis manager will submit the settlement proposal to the Commercial Court of Zagreb, which will schedule a voting on the deal.
Agrokor, which employs some 60,000 people in the region, has been in financial turmoil since January last year.
In April, a process of restructuring of the concern under emergency administration was launched according to a law on managing distressed companies, which are of systemic importance for Croatia's economy, commonly known as Lex Agrokor.
(1 euro = 7.42895 kuna)