(Reuters) -Croatia’s largest food producer and retailer, Fortenova Grupa, has agreed a 550 million euro ($645 million) refinancing deal with Unicredit and Zagrebacka Bank, the company said on Friday.
“With this arrangement, which represents the largest private corporate financing in Republic of Croatia arranged by one banking group, Fortenova Group makes an important step in further stabilisation and strengthening of its financial position,” the company said.
Formerly known as Agrokor, Fortenova is one of the biggest companies in southeastern Europe. It was saved from bankruptcy in a restructuring deal with local and foreign creditors in mid-2018.
The company said this was its first banking financing since it was founded in 2019.
“Since … 2019 we have cut gross debt from 2 billion euros to 650 million euros and at the same time more than doubled the Group’s EBIDTA,” said CEO Fabris Perusko.
The effective date for the debt refinancing is October 1.
($1 = 0.8526 euros)
(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic, Editing by Louise Heavens)
