Nikola Grmoja of the conservative populist Most party on January 8 accused the CEO of Fortenova Group, Fabris Perusko, of acting against the company’s interest in favour of local tycoon Pavao Vujnovac, allowing him to take over Fortenova. 

Fortenova was formed from the restructuring of Agrokor, following a settlement with creditors of the troubled group. With operations in food production, retail and agriculture employing more than 45,000 people, it is the largest private employer in the Southeast Europe region.

Fortenova shareholders agreed in December that Vujnovac’s Open Pass Limited would pay off two sanction-hit Russian banks, VTB and Sberbank, that were among the owners of the group. 

That allowed Vujnovac to significantly increase his stake in Fortenova, though his exact holding is unclear as it depends on how many other shareholders took up the offer to sell their shares to Open Pass once the deal was approved. He was, however, expected to become the majority owner of Fortenova. 

“This is a huge scandal and I expect investigative bodies, [State Attorney’s Office] DORH, [anti-corruption agency] USKOK and the police to come knocking at the door of [Prime Minister Andrej] Plenkovic’s commissioner for Agrokor, Fabris Perusko, who made it possible for tycoon Vujnovac to take over Fortenova, defrauding the company of at least €66mn,” Grmoja told a press conference in the Croatian parliament as quoted by N1.

 

Grmoja said that he had documents confirming his accusations and that he will file a criminal claim against Perusko next week.

Grmoja also claimed that Perusko has refused to accept a proposal by Zagrebacka Banka to refinance or purchase a €26mn claim filed against Agrokor by two fictitious companies, Stela Nekretnine and Ciglana Nekretnine.

After that, Prvo Plinarsko Drustvo bought the claim from Zagrebacka Banka for €16mn even though there was another offer, worth €43mn. At the time, according to Grmoja, Perusko declined to refinance or purchase the debt to Zagrebacka Banka but insisted that Vujnovac should do it and buy property of Agrokor for €200,000.

“Fortenova Group did not buy the claims, did not ask for the repayment of its loans, did not buy the companies even though it had the right of pre-emption, but surrendered everything to Vujnovac,” he said.

Most party MP Zvonimir Troskot claimed that instead of protecting the interests of creditors, Perusko favoured the future stakeholder Vujnovac.

Fortenova responded, accusing Most’s MPs of repeating accusations by sanctioned Russian stakeholder SBK Art and by the lawyer of UAE investor Saif Alketbi, whose legal battle to take control of Fortenova failed. 

Fortenova Group claimed Grmoja and Troskot had made the accusation against Perusko without understanding what happened or why, accusing them of chasing their own interests without taking any responsibility for their accusations as they have immunity as MPs.

Recently, depositary receipt holders of Croatia’s Fortenova Group approved a deal worth up to €660mn under which shares owned by the sanctioned Russian banks are to be acquired by Malta-registered Open Pass.

The deal will complete Fortenova’s ownership restructuring, excluding SBK Art, owned by Russia’s Sberbank, which holds a 43.4% stake. According to the approved decision, Fortenova Group’s ownership structure will no longer have sanctioned equity holders, who will be compensated for their ownership.

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