Croatia

In 2006, three business luminaries huddled in Belgrade for a meeting so veiled in secrecy that it acquired a mystical code name: Hercules. The three titans wanted to test their strength by creating a giant retail company to dominate across the former Yugoslavia, Bloomberg News reported. The executives -- Ivica Todoric of Croatia’s Agrokor d.d., Zoran Jankovic of Slovenia’s Mercator Poslovni Sistem and Miroslav Miskovic of Serbia’s Delta Holding -- haggled for six hours before giving up, unable to agree on ownership stakes. It was a lucky escape for two of them.

A deal with creditors has finally given Agrokor boss Fabris Perusko time to focus on leading the Croatian food group back from the brink of bankruptcy and fighting off international competition, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The former McKinsey & Company consultant was promoted in February from the board of Tisak, a chain of newsagents owned by Agrokor, to restructure the parent company. But the Croatian was promptly distracted by months of difficult talks with creditors.

Croatian food producer and retailer Agrokor, which is in the process of being taken over by its creditors, reported a big rise in first-half core earnings on Monday, as cost cuts helped to offset lower revenues, Reuters reported. The largest private company in the Balkans with 52,000 staff said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) jumped 70.5 percent year-on-year to 729.7 million Croatian kuna ($112 million). That was despite a 13.3 percent drop in non-consolidated revenues to 11 billion kuna.

The creditors of Agrokor, Croatia’s indebted food producer and retailer, on Wednesday voted to approve a debt settlement deal that will help to resolve the company’s troubles, Reuters reported. Agrokor, the largest private company in the Balkans with 60,000 staff, was put under state-run administration in April 2017, crippled by debts built up during an ambitious expansion drive. Its creditors include local and foreign banks, bondholders and suppliers.

The creditors of Croatia’s indebted food producer and retailer Agrokor will vote on a settlement deal on July 4, a local commercial court said on Thursday. For the deal to be approved, two-thirds of creditors must vote for it, which is widely expected, Reuters. The legal deadline for the vote, aimed at avoiding Agrokor’s bankruptcy, is July 10. Earlier this week the representatives of major creditors in the so-called interim creditors’ council have accepted the settlement contract, which includes a debt-to-equity swap and some loan write-offs..

Leaders of Croatia's ruling coalition met on Friday to discuss opposition demands that Deputy Prime Minister Martina Dalic resign over conflict of interest allegations linked to the restructuring of the country's largest private firm, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Dalic, who is also economy minister, led efforts to save food producer and retailer Agrokor after it was put under state-run administration in April 2017, weighed down by debt accrued during an ambitious expansion drive.

The Croatian government survived a parliamentary no-confidence vote early on Saturday that the opposition demanded over the handling of a debt crisis at the country's largest private firm Agrokor, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. In the vote, which followed 12 hours of a parliamentary debate, 59 deputies in the 151-seat parliament were in favor of the removal of the conservative-led cabinet, while 78 were opposed to it.

Agrokor d.d., the conglomerate under the largest state-led restructuring in Croatian history, failed to report more than 3.9 billion kuna ($616 million) of liabilities at the end of 2015, according to a company report published on Monday. The firm released audited results for 2016 and reviewed financial reports for the previous years, confirming earlier warnings from Ante Ramljak, a government-appointed commissioner, that the original results may have contained irregularities, Bloomberg News reported.

Adin Fakic, chief executive of Bosnia's oldest dairy, likens the crisis engulfing his biggest client Agrokor to an earthquake. The epicentre is in Croatia, but the tremors are felt across the farmlands of neighbouring Bosnia and beyond, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. For a decade, Fakic's Milkos has built up business with Croatian supermarket chain Konzum, which now buys roughly 35 percent of its annual output of some 20 million litres of milk.

Croatia is struggling to contain the economic fallout from problems at heavily indebted food group Agrokor, the restructuring expert appointed by the government to lead the process said on Monday. Agrokor, the biggest employer in the Balkan region with some 60,000 staff, racked up debts during a rapid expansion, notably in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Serbia, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. According to the latest data from last September, its debts totalled around 45 billion kuna (5.16 billion pounds), or six times its equity.