Troubled Agrokor, the Balkans' main food maker and retailer, made it to the top of Croatia's political agenda Thursday when Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic tried to calm fears over its crushing debt. The Agrokor concern directly employs some 60,000 people in the region - of which two-thirds in Croatia and others in neighbouring Bosnia, Serbia, Slovenia - where unemployment runs high.
A network of suppliers means dozens of thousands more people are linked to the company indirectly.
Its owner is Croatian businessman Ivica Todoric. Agrokor's has annual revenue of some 50 billion kunas (6.7 billion euros, $7.2 billion), the equivalent of over 15 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
According to figures released in September its debt amounted to some six billion euros.
Among the firm's major creditors figure Russia's state-owned banks Sberbank and VTB.
"We hope for a positive solution of the situation" regarding Agrokor, Plenkovic told a government session, and called not to "dramatise".
"We should all calm down ... using a common sense approach a dialogue with the company and its major creditors from whom we expect that they very soon jointly start a plan for resolving the existing problems in (Agrokor's) business operations."
He stressed that the "government's role is to take care of overall stability and sustainability of the country's economic and financial system".
Agrokor said in a statement Wednesday it was analysing with its partners "all possible options to stabilise the company's business activities".
Earlier this year international rating agencies lowered Agrokor's credit rating citing namely its high indebtedness and rising refinancing risks. A big part of its debt matures in 2018.
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