Fortenova Group is a food producer and retailer based in Zagreb. It has been operating since 1 April 2019. The company was established through the implementation of the Settlement Plan closed between the creditors of Agrokor which had, due to illiquidity and over-indebtedness, ended up in pre-bankruptcy, managed through the Extraordinary Administration Procedure pursuant to the Act on Extraordinary Administration Procedures in Companies of Systemic Importance for the Republic of Croatia.
As a result of the successfully conducted and concluded negotiations among Agrokor's creditors and the adopted final and non-appealable Settlement Plan, Fortenova Group started its operations as a new company with a completely redesigned ownership, organisational and management structure.
The team, headed by Extraordinary Commissioner Fabris Peruško, that ran the process of Agrokor's financial restructuring over the course of the Extraordinary Administration Procedure, was presented with the prestigious TMA Turnaround and Transaction Award for 2019 in the category of international transaction of the year. Namely, the process that resulted in the settlement among creditors and its successful implementation was assessed by the international financial industry as the most significant procedure of its kind in the world that year.
In less than a year after the implementation of the settlement plan, Fortenova Group successfully completed its refinancing by issuing a four-year bond, it has been implementing transformational processes, increasing its operating profits, has significantly improved its cash position and become a financially entirely stable company. The company is managed by a board of directors and a team of Executive Directors headed by Fabris Peruško as chief executive officer.
Fortenova Group employs more than 50,000 workers in more than 30 administrative headquarters, 29 production plants, more than 2,500 sales locations and distribution centers across six jurisdictions and directly participates with its own business operations in food production, retail chain management and agriculture on the markets of Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro. Through its affiliated companies Fortenova Group also owns a company in Hungary. Through the export of its food products Fortenova Group is present on the markets of more than 20 countries of the world, where the most significant outbound markets are the states of the region and the European Union. At the same time, in the SEE region it has a retail network featuring more than 2,500 retail stores. The key sectors in which Fortenova Group generates significant impacts on the market are the retail sector, the beverage production sector, the edible oil production sector, the fresh and processed meat production sector, the milk and dairy production sector, as well as the agricultural sectors of crop husbandry, livestock breeding, viticulture and wine production, olive growing and fruit and vegetable growing. Given the diverse nature of its operations, Fortenova Group places over 4,000 products and provides a large number of services on all the markets where it operates.
The company has a strong strategic orientation towards working together with local suppliers, maintaining and developing shorter supply chains, developing regional agricultural and food production of local origin on all markets where it operates, investing in knowledge and innovation and increasing the competitiveness of the overall economic environment.
History
To prevent the collapse of the Agrokor system due to illiquidity and over-indebtedness as well as the consequences on the economies of Croatia and other countries in Southeast Europe, on 10 April 2017, the Extraordinary Administration Procedure was activated pursuant to the Act on Extraordinary Administration Procedures in Companies of Systemic Importance for the Republic of Croatia.
The Commercial Court of Zagreb sanctioned the creditors’ Settlement Plan on 6 July 2018, and by the decision of the High Commercial Court passed on 18 October 2018, the creditors’ Settlement Plan has become final.
The Extraordinary Administration Procedure has been accepted as an insolvency procedure in England and Wales by the High Court of England and Wales on 9 November 2017, for the territory of Switzerland in February 2018 and in the US at the Bankruptcy Court New York according to Chapter 15 in November 2018. By Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council, in July 2018 the Act on Extraordinary Administration Procedures was included in the list of national laws recognized as insolvency procedures on the entire territory of the European Union.