December 30 (SeeNews) - Croatia's diversified group Djuro Djakovic [ZSE:DDJH] said its unit Djuro Djakovic Industrijska Rjesenja (DDIR) has filed for pre-bankruptcy proceedings.
DDIR submitted its request to the commercial court in Osijek on December 27, Djuro Djakovic said in a filing with the Zagreb bourse on Friday.
"The remaining companies part of the Djuro Djakovic Group do not intend to file for pre-bankruptcy proceedings," the group said without giving further details.
In October, the group revealed that it has been in talks with creditors, trying to resolve a liquidity crisis which has left it short of funds to pay out wages to its employees. The group and two of its four affiliated companies were unable to pay their workers the September salaries, Djuro Djakovic has said.
In November, the group eventually managed to pay out the delayed September wages to its workers, following which they halted their strike and returned to work. However, later on the workers staged protests again, seeking the payment of the November wages.
Last Monday, economy minister Darko Horvat said that the November salaries will be paid out by the end of the year, adding the government is ready to provide Djuro Djakovic with state guarantees for a 150 million kuna ($23 million/20 million euro) loan that would help some of the group's units to unblock their accounts and finish work on orders that have been already in progress.
Horvat also said that the government will prepare a restructuring plan for Djuro Djakovic, which will need an approval from the European Commission and some four to six months to be completed.
The government controls a stake of some 29% in Djuro Djakovic. Outside the government and its funds, local individual Nenad Bakic controls the largest single stake of 17.71% in the group, according to December 30 stock exchange data.
Djuro Djakovic's shares closed flat at 5.20 kuna on Friday. They did not trade at opening on Monday.
The group's main business lines are manufacturing of equipment for steelworks, industrial and power plants and production of rolling stock and special-purpose motor vehicles.
(1 euro = 7.44922 kuna)