Matijevic meat company buys Subotica-based Agrokombinat for EUR 7.6 million

Matijevic meat company bought Subotica-based Agrokombinat, once the largest agricultural company in the north of Vojvodina, at Wednesday's public auction in the Subotica Commercial Court at the starting price of EUR 7.6 million.

Matijevic has thus become the owner of about 1,300 hectares of land, several facilities, machinery and equipment.

Before this acquisition, majority owners of Agrokombinat were minor shareholders who held a 55% stake in the company. Of the remaining shares, 35% were in the possession of the Privatization Registry, whereas a 10-percent stake was held by the Pension and Disability Insurance. A total of 1,366 shareholders of Agrokombinat are registered with the Privatization Registry.

Minor shareholders are not satisfied with the selling price because, as their representative Josip Ivankovic stressed, not much money will be left for them after the claims of all creditors are settled.

According to his words, the public auction was set up with the aim of selling Agrokombinat as cheap as possible.

- Minor shareholders would be satisfied if Agrokombinat was sold for at least EUR 10 million because, in that case, they as well would get something of what they earned - said Ivankovic.

A.D. Agrokombinat Subotica was formed in 1964 and used to cultivate 15,000 hectares of land and employ about 1,000 workers what it was at its peak. The company used its own sources to build two silos with the capacity of over 30,000 tonnes, few pig farms, cow farms, machinery, etc.

Agrokombinat's production results used to put that company in the rank of similar companies in the Western Europe.

Bankruptcy proceedings were commenced in 2004 due to poor operations, and the company declared bankruptcy in March 2011.

At the time when bankruptcy proceedings were commenced, Agrokombinat's debt amounted to EUR 5.1 million, and the plan was to provide the money to pay that debt by reorganizing the company, which is the process that was supposed to end until late 2013.

However, that did not happen, and the company has been in bankruptcy since March 2011.