Russia’s largest lender, Sberbank, has received proposals to sell its stake in Croatian food group Agrokor. Agrokor, with over 50,000 staff, was put under state-run administration last year.
In October, a Croatian court approved a deal for Agrokor that includes a debt-for-equity swap, meaning that Agrokor’s biggest single creditor, Sberbank, will soon become its largest shareholder with a 39.2 pct stake.
Maxim Poletayev, who is overseeing Agrokor’s restructuring, said that Sberbank has already started to get proposals to buy out the bank’s stake from different kinds of distressed funds spanning the United States and Canada to the UK.
“All will depend on the price, so far we are studying them,” Poletayev said, adding that Sberbank is also in talks with a number of investors who may take part in refinancing Agrokor’s super-senior debt.
The company has EUR 1.1 bln in the super-senior loan, with Knighthead, VTB, Russia’s second largest bank, and Italy’s UniCredit among its debtors, he said. Poletayev said that the super-senior debt would bear an annual rate of 10 pct starting from January.
“Replacing this loan with another one… is a task of the next couple of months. We are actively working on this and have received a couple of proposals,” he said.
Sberbank and VTB, having lent a total of EUR 1.1 bln and EUR 300 mln to Agrokor in the past, respectively, won’t be taking part in any new loans for the company.
Overall claims against Agrokor, from creditors including local banks, bondholders and suppliers, amounted to some HRK 58 bln (USD 8.9 bln) before the restructure.
Bondholders will own 25 pct of Agrokor after the debt to equity swap.
Poletayev said that Sberbank is in talks with both western and eastern funds and banks, including from China and Arab countries, who may take part in the refinancing process.
In the meantime, as part of the restructuring plan, Sberbank wants Agrokor to focus on three areas: retail, food and agriculture, Poletayev said.
Davis Morris, an ex-executive with Britain’s biggest food retailer Tesco, has joined Agrokor to oversee its retail business, Poletayev said.
Fabris Perusko, a former McKinsey & Company consultant who was promoted to help with the restructuring from the board of Tisak, a chain of newsagents owned by Agrokor, is expected to be Agrokor’s CEO, Poletayev said.
Agrokor’s Mercator brand, which includes 985 stores in Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, will divest a number of non-core assets and sell real estate assets worth EUR 116 mln – a deal already approved by its board of directors, Poletayev said.
Poletayev also said that Agrokor’s chain in Bosnia was not profitable enough and he believed the best option would be to redirect investments to Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia.
