At the session held on February 28, 2019 the Interim Creditors’ Council of Agrokor d.d. approved the proposal of the Extraordinary Commissioner and decided to suggest to the Commercial Court of Zagreb to determine for the Public Announcement Date to be March 1st 2019, to set the Implementation Commencement Date on April 1, 2019 and to approve the public announcement of the Implementation Commencement Date through the courts’ e-bulletin board as at the Public Announcement Date.
Following the aforesaid approval of the Commercial Court of Zagreb the transfer of the commercial entity under the Extraordinary Administration to the Fortenova Group will take place on April 1st 2019 and the new company will commence its operations.
Out of the total 159 companies in the Agrokor Group, 77 companies that are under the Extraordinary Administration in the Republic of Croatia will be the first to go through the implementation of the Settlement. Out of this number, 45 insolvent companies will be mirrored and new “plus” companies are starting their work in the New Group. At the same time the old, non-viable companies will undergo a process of being merged to Agrokor d.d. Once all the assets and companies are amalgamated, the completion of the Extraordinary Administration procedure will be determined and Agrokor will be deleted from the Court Registry. The stakes of 32 solvent companies in Croatia shall be transferred to the New Group and once the stakes are transferred they exit from the Extraordinary Administration procedure. Assets and shares of 82 companies outside Croatia that are not under the Extraordinary Administration will be transferred to the New Group in accordance with the laws of the competent jurisdictions, as soon as possible in the most cost effective way.
A team of around 300 people worked on the preparation of the implementation plans. In order to practically explain to all Agrokor employees the concepts of implementation and their roles in the process, a short animated movie is made available on the following link. At the same time, for the purpose of informing employees of the implementation process, an application called Aconnect has been developed for direct two-way internal communication with over 50,000 employees.
Fortenova Group is the new name of the company that will replace Agrokor d.d., to become operative on April 1st, 2019. With regards to the new corporate governance structure, the candidates proposed by the shareholders for the non-executive Members of the Board are: Daniel Boehi, Miodrag Borojević, Paul Foley, Kelly Griffith, Maksim Poletaev, Julian Michael Simmonds and Sergei Volk. Another non-executive Board Member will be the representative of workers, to be elected by the employees of the company. Fabris Peruško is candidate for the Executive Member of the Board of Directors, which will have nine members in total.
In addition, Fabris Peruško is appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Fortenova Group and Irena Weber as Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Another Executive Officer will be proposed eventually; hence the new corporate governance consisting of three Executive Officers will be in charge of the operational management of the company.
„The name Fortenova represents the new strength that will bring new value to our employees, shareholders and all other stakeholders. It symbolizes our commitment to directing new strength towards healthier relationships within the company and in all the interactions that we have. Through the Extraordinary Administration Procedure we have already created much healthier business foundations and we have a clear vision of how to develop and strengthen our core businesses, in order for our operating companies to confirm their market positions. We are at the final stage of this challenging race. The Settlement Implementation is full of demanding steps and requires full engagement from all of us. But since we precisely know what to do, we are confident that we will be able to manage this final stage and are looking forward to successfully passing the finish line and to starting fresh as Fortenova Group, “said Irena Weber, Deputy Extraordinary Commissioner.
“With the Settlement Plan Implementation we are completing the demanding process of rescuing a company which was at the brink of complete disintegration and bankruptcy just two years ago. When my colleague Irena Weber and I took charge of the Extraordinary Administration exactly a year ago, many were convinced that the settlement would not be accomplished within the statutory deadline. Despite all that, we managed to do it. More than 50,000 jobs within the Group, and indirectly many more, have been preserved, the companies’ operations maintained and – even more importantly, their efficiency has been improved. Our good results and growth are not only in the interest of our employees and owners. They are important to all our markets as well, as they mean new investments, new employment and technological exploits, which has a direct impact on the competitiveness of the economies of each of the countries where the new company will operate, in line with the world’s best standards,” said Fabris Peruško, Extraordinary Commissioner of Agrokor.
Settlement Plan steps until ICD
