July 17 (SeeNews) - The receiver of Croatia's indebted concern Agrokor, Ante Ramljak, will take over the management of Slovenian retailer Mercator majority owned by Agrokor under a Ljubljana district court ruling, Slovenian media reported.
This in practice means that the Slovenian court had recognised the insolvency of the majority owner of Mercator, and that Ante Ramljak Ramljak will have the final say on the future of the Slovenian retailer, news portal Siol.net reported over the weekend.
Ramljak approached the court recently, when Mercator refused to take over stores managed by its peer Konzum in Bosnia and Herzegovina in an operation designed by the receiver with the aim of saving the performance of Agrokor in that country.
Last week, Ramljak announced that Agrokor's retailer Konzum will retain under its management 170 stores in Bosnia, while Konzum's remaining 83 stores in the country will be taken over by Mercator from August 1. Following the decision of the Ljubljana district court, Mercator no longer has a say in the matter as Ramljak has the powers to manage it and, if necessary, dispose of it entirely or a part of its assets, Siol.net said.
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 in Bosnia were leased out at arm's length principle to Konzum.
In April, the Croatian parliament adopted a law, commonly known as 'Lex Agrokor', in response to financial troubles at the country's biggest private concern. It allows the government to appoint temporary administrators to lead a restructuring process at the request of creditors of the company or the debtor itself.