Carrefour store (source: Sme)
Creditors of Retail Value Stores (RVS), operator of the Carrefour chain in Slovakia, are giving the retail chain a chance to start again, said Jozef Špirko, former partner of the Penta financial group and current investor in the retail chain.
“However, in the upcoming weeks, we’ll have to work hard to draft an action plan in order to regain confidence of both customers as well as suppliers,” said Špirko, as quoted by the TASR newswire, following a meeting of creditors on June 6.
Carrefour, which has five hypermarkets in Slovakia, will certainly remain at its current premises, he continued.
“I hope that we’ll manage to ensure that the chain will continue operating under the Carrefour brand,” said Špirko, whose own RVS claim amounts to €100,000, as quoted by TASR. “This brand had a very good name in the past.”
Asked about what sum he now wants to invest in the chain, Špirko said that his threshold is high enough so that the Carrefour chain will run correctly.
“In two months, after fundamental changes are made, I can give a more specific answer,” he added.
Špirko will not hold any official function in Carrefour, however, he wants to make this project successful again. Therefore he will invest a lot of time in it. He also wants to create more scope for Slovak suppliers and shelf space for Slovak products.
Creditors have reported claims worth almost €20 million, of which €17.5 million was uncontested, said Ladislav Barát, who is carrying out the restructuring process at RVS. Most of the Agriculture Ministry’s claims have been rejected as they are still the subject of lawsuits.
Representatives of five companies that features meat factory Polička, Berto SK, Kofola, Unilever Slovensko and Pivovary Topvar have become members of the creditor’s committee, said Barát, as reported by TASR.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture Ministry said it is concerned about the fact that most of its claims towards RVS have been turned down.
In response to the results of the meeting of RVS creditors, ministry’s spokesperson Vladimír Machalík said that the ministry is demanding a claim worth €2.239 million in the ongoing restructuring process at RVS, but only €181,000 has been acknowledged.
Most of the ministry’s claims feature unpaid fines.
“We’ll take necessary steps so that the state won’t be deprived of the money which has been legally recognised as coming to it,” said Machalík, as quoted by TASR.
Disclaimer: Penta financial group also has a 45-percent share in Petit Press, the co-owner of The Slovak Spectator.
