The petrochemical company Dioki has confirmed through the Zagreb Stock Exchange that some of its creditors have launched a forced collection of their claims towards Dioki and that talks are under way with key creditors as well as that a programme for Dioki's restructuring has been made for that purpose.
"We confirm that HEP Grupa, INA Grupa and some commercial banks have started a forced collection of their claims towards Dioki and DINA-Petrokemija. We also confirm that intensive talks are under way with the key creditors with the aim of finding ways to continue with the company's production activities," Dioki said in a statement in response to an inquiry from the Zagreb Stock Exchange on the article headlined "HEP Blocks Dioki Over HRK 180 Million Debt", published in the business daily Business.hr today.
Dioki said that for that purpose a programme for the restructuring of its operations had been made and that it had been accepted in principle by the key creditors as well as by the majority owner (Robert Jezic), about which a statement was sent to the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship.
"In line with that and in the interest of all the parties concerned, we expect that the current complex situation will be resolved and that the company's operations will be normalised soon," Dioki said.
The Economy Ministry confirmed receipt of the statement from the majority owner of Dioki Grupa, Robert Jezic, sent on September 20, in which he expressed readiness to accept such a restructuring programme that was acceptable to the creditors.
Based on that statement, the Ministry will continue talks with the creditors, primarily commercial banks, so that Dioki Grupa's operations could continue, the Ministry said.
It added that Economy Minister Djuro Popijac had taken a number of steps to help the company and protect the jobs of its employees and subcontractors, organising a number of meetings with the biggest creditors, including leading Croatian commercial banks.
A restructuring programme was defined and it was accepted by the biggest creditors, making it possible to avoid the launching of bankruptcy proceedings and continue with ownership restructuring by swapping a part of the claims towards Dioki Grupa for shares in the company. After ownership restructuring, the organisational and financial restructuring will start, the ministry said, adding that some of the creditors had blocked Dioki Grupa's bank accounts to protect their claims because the majority owner was not accepting the proposed restructuring programme.
According to unofficial information, Dioki Grupa's debt to the power supplier HEP is around HRK 180 million, and the debt to the oil and gas company INA is around HRK 70 million.
After receiving the latest notification, the Zagreb Stock Exchange put Dioki's shares in the observation segment.
The latest information has reflected on the price of Dioki shares, which shortly before the closing of the stock market today dropped 5.55 percent to HRK 40. Earlier in the day, the shares were traded at an even lower price of HRK 36.14.
