Dioki on Wednesday confirmed that intensified activities were under way regarding the implementation of the plan of restructuring of this petrochemical company and that the negotiations were being conducted so as to unblock the bank accounts of the Dioki group's units and restart production in the plants at Zagreb and at Omisalj on the island of Krk.
"Following yesterday's protest rally staged by Dioki workers and meetings held in the Labour and Pension System Ministry and in the Economy Ministry, we have been notified about the content of the talks on efforts to unblock the group's business accounts, restart production and step up the process of the restructuring of the Dioki Group," the group said in a press release sent to the Zagreb Stock Exchange following queries from the ZSE in light of media reports that on Tuesday agreement was reached to unblock the company's account and restart production in the coming days.
The group said that it would continue informing the investment community, on a regular basis, about all activities and events pertaining to Dioki's business.
About 200 workers of the leading Croatian petrochemical company on Tuesday staged protests in Zagreb's central square and outside the Economy Ministry demanding unblocking of the company's accounts and resumption of production which had been halted six months before.
The protesters dispersed after the workers' leaders informed them about the outcome of their talks with Labour Minister Mirando Mrsic and Deputy Economy Minister Tamara Obradovic Mazal.
They agreed on unblocking the company's account and restarting production within the next seven days. They also agreed on urgent ownership restructuring and the payment of overdue wages after production resumed.
Representatives of the Dioki workers who protested outside the Economy Ministry and the Labour Ministry said after the meeting with Mrsic that an agreement had already been reached with the biggest creditors -- the banks and the HZ rail company -- to unblock Dioki's account, and that the government would order the oil company INA and the power company HEP to do the same.
Both Dioki plants, one at Zagreb and the other at Omisalj on the northern Adriatic island of Krk, would resume production within a week, after which the workers would be paid five months' overdue wages.
The ownership restructuring process would be launched under urgent procedure, so that the banks and other creditors would enter the company's ownership structure, after which the majority stake of the present owner Robert Jezic would be reduced from the present 76% to 5-6%, workers said.
