June 8 (SeeNews) - Russia's Sberbank, a major creditor of Croatia's Agrokor, told SeeNews on Thursday the commercial court in Zagreb has dismissed its lawsuit which sought to prevent the indebted food and retail concern from raising new loans.
"On the 8th of June, the commercial court in Zagreb declined the application of Sberbank of Russia for an injunction prohibiting Agrokor from entering into new financing agreements with a roll-up model," Sberbank said in response to a SeeNews inquiry.
The bank noted that this effectively means that the current version of Lex Agrokor does not provide any protection of creditors against "unreasonable and illegal actions" taken by Agrokor.
"Sberbank still believes the roll up model is against the law and will further deteriorate the position of the creditors, and we, therefore, intend to further defend our rights by all legal means," it added.
On Wednesday, Sberbank filed a suit with the Zagreb-based court to prohibit Agrokor from concluding new loan deals under roll-up contracts.
"We believe that such a model is not recognised by the Croatian law, is contrary to Lex Agrokor and its implementation will result in disposition of Agrokor’s assets to the detriment of its other creditors and stakeholders, including Croatia," the bank said at the time.
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 the company's creditors or the debtor itself.
Sberbank explained that its strong intention was to make sure that the extraordinary administration procedure in Agrokor is being conducted in strict compliance with the law and to the maximum possible benefit of all parties involved.
Sberbank's exposure to Agrokor totals over a billion euro.
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