Croatia's govt, Agrokor's creditors plan to sign standstill deal this week-VTB
MOSCOW, March 29 Croatian government and a pool of creditors of Croatia's heavily indebted foods and retail group Agrokor plan to sign a standstill agreement this week, Yuri Soloviev, first deputy chief executive with Russia's VTB told reporters.
"Standstill will be relatively short at the beginning... a week or a month, not a year... Changes in shareholders structure are possible (following debt restructure)," he said, adding that VTB exposure to Agrokor was at around 300 million euros ($322.7 million).
Soloviev added that pool of creditors was formed and is being chaired by Sberbank, the biggest lender to Agrokor. Creditors expect to work out debt restructure plan and also look at an option of Agrokor selling part of its business to cut debt.
He also said that pool of creditors may provide Agrokor with short-term liquidity. "A local development bank may also provide guarantees to suppliers to continue supplies. Combination of short-term financing... and government support is possible."
($1 = 0.9297 euros) (Reporting by Kira Zavyalova; writing by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Vladimir Soldatkin)