DIVISION PLAN

Tedeschi: We have enough money to buy Podravka

18.01.2010 u 10:15

Bionic
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Responding to claims from the president of the Croatian Peasant's Party (HSS) that no one in Croatia has enough money to buy the foods company Podravka, head of the Atlantic Grupa, Emil Tedeschi told the Podravski List newspaper that his Atlantic has the money for such a transaction. Podravka CEO Miroslav Vitković, meanwhile, told the same paper that 'some interested buyers are intentionally potentiating a crisis in Podravka to lower its value.'

Emil Tedeschi confirmed that he had been talking with Podravka shareholders and government officials over a takeover.
'I don't think it is acceptable to say that no one in Croatia today has the means or capacities to buy Podravka. There are a number of subjects in Croatia that could achieve such a demanding transaction', said Tedeschi. Podravka's refinancing is, however, somewhat more challenging, since the company is in serious debt, Tedeschi added. 'I think that this is the second largest challenge, while buying stocks is only in third.'
Added Value
'The primary element in the story is that it is clear how things will work in the company, what the strategy is, how to increase revenues and operative margins and to create added value', Tedeschi says in the Podravski List, reminding that the process is in the hands of the shareholders who will ultimately decide in which direction to take the company.
Podravka CEO Miroslav Vitković referred to the plan to split the company into five new ones, and Atlantic's takeover interests. According to the division plan, which was meant to be used only to evaluate the company's value, Podravka's stock wouldn't be worth 300, rather over 1,000 Kuna. Vitković warns, however, that the document is not the company's new strategy and that the management had not yet discussed it.
'What we are worth is known by those who would buy Podravka cheap today. Well, if they're already interested in buying the Koprivnica company, why don't they offer 1,000 Kuna per stock and talk with the owners instead of buying up at 250 to 300 Kuna', said Vitković, adding how 'some interested buyers are intentionally potentiating a crisis in Podravka to lower its value.'
'The final stage of Podravka's privatization is, above all, a political decision, since the state is the majority shareholder, and the company is also of national importance since it links the agricultural sector with the foods industry', said Ljubo Jurčić, head of Podravka's supervisory board.
'I am the chairman of the supervisory board, but I am not the owner. Our goal is to financially consolidation and restructuring the company, and we do not deal with the privatization process. The owners decide what they will do with their stocks, and it is up to the state to decide whether or not to sell their share in Podravka', Jurčić concluded.
The Jutarnji List daily reminds that the Podravka shareholders assembly will be held in mid-February and that the supervisory board is meeting on Tuesday with the management in order to bring a decision on the assemblage of the shareholders assembly.
Other pressing issues up for discussion include determining the proposal for the new assembly of the supervisory board, with 7 instead of the previous 11 members. Pension and state funds will have two representatives, while workers, institutional investors and small shareholders will have one each. Podravka will not be up for sale until the company is stabilized, say big shareholders. The strings are all held by HSS President Josip Friščić at the moment, and he is opposed to the continuation of the privatization process.
However, the pension funds, who hold 22% of Podravka, the Jutarnji reports, have already threatened that they will not let politics decided the company's future. Unless the funds and state reach an agreement, it is possible that the funds exit Podravka's ownership. The Koprivnica-based company can be bought without approval from the state, a 26% stakeholder in the foods producer.