Request that Lex Agrokor is valid in Serbia as well rejected

(Photo: Damir Sencar/Shutterstock)

It is about the Law on Systemically Important Companies adopted by the Croatian Parliament in April in order to save outraged business empire of indebted Ivica Todorić, which made his private property practically nationalized.

Within Croatian concern, Mercator S, Frikom, Diamond, Mg Mivela, Kikindski mlin and Nova Sloga are operating in Serbia. Ramljak, whom Croatian government appointed to manage this company, addressed the Commercial Court in Belgrade at the end of July with the demand that Lex Agrokor is applied to companies in Serbia. However, his request was rejected, and Politika states that this information was confirmed to them by the Commercial Court in Belgrade.

The newspaper reports this is only a continuation of legal saga between management of Agrokor and Russian Sberbank, to which concenr owes the most. Application of Lex Agrokor does not provide a guarantee that more than one billion euros borrowed to Ivica Todoric will be returned. That's why the Russians tried to protect their rights over the past several months from international and regional courts.

Thus, Russian Sberbank submitted a request for a ban to the Commercial Court in Belgrade and the Commercial Court in Zrenjanin on disposal of assets of Frikom and Dijamant.

Ljubljana District Court confirmed in mid-July Ramljak's request and made a decision on recognition of a foreign insolvency proceeding, which practically means cross-border bankruptcy. Essentially, Ramljak will have the first and last word in the decision on the property of this Croatian concern in Slovenia.