January 8 (SeeNews) - A Ljubljana court has rejected an appeal by Croatia's Agrokor against a decision of the Slovenian competition protection agency, AVK, to seize Agrokor's holdings in Slovenian retailer Mercator, the Croatian company said.
"Agrokor expresses regret over the Court's decision and shall use all available legal means in order to achieve annulment of the Agency's final decision and secure its ownership authorities in Mercator," Agrokor said in a statement on Tuesday.
AVK decided on December 16 to temporarily seize Agrokor's holdings in Mercator as a security for the enforcement of a non-final ruling issued in September, imposing a 53.9 million euro ($59.9 million) penalty on Swiss-based Agrokor AG over its failure to notify the agency about its 2016 acquisition of UAE-based Ardeya Global, which owns Slovenian water bottler Costella.
The decision of the Ljubljana court has made AVK's December ruling final and non-appealable, Agrokor said, adding that it continues to consider AVK's ruling "unconstitutional, arbitrary and unlawful".
It added that the controvercial ruling impedes the transfer of the above mentioned Mercator shares from Agrokor to its successor Fortenova Group.
"Of the controversial conduct of the Slovenian Agency in this procedure, as well as of its suspicion that, contrary to Slovenian legislation and EU practices, the transfer of Mercator shares from Agrokor to Fortenova Group has been prevented by the Slovenian administrative and other authorities for national political reasons, Agrokor has already informed the heads of European and national competition protection authorities," Akrokor said.
It added that it has also notified earlier this month international rating agencies Fitch, Moody's, and Standard&Poor's, as well as the World Bank and Transparency International about the obstacles it has been facing in the past year as an investor in Slovenia.
The business operations of Croatia's troubled food-to-retail concern Agrokor were transferred to the newly formed Fortenova Group in April 2019 under a settlement agreement with Agrokor's creditors endorsed by a Zagreb court in June 2018.
($=0.8985 euro)
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