ATHENS- Greek jeweller Folli Follie has secured the approval of its creditors for a long-awaited rescue plan, the company said late on Wednesday.
Folli has struggled to pay suppliers and workers and keep its business going since a hedge fund report in 2018 questioned its accounting methods.
The report led to the suspension of its shares and an audit which revealed a billion euro hole in 2017 sales. Folli's former chairman and its former CEO are in custody pending trial, according to Greek media. They have denied any wrongdoing.
The company has been in talks for months with creditors to get the consent of at least 60% of them for a rescue plan before it can file it with Greek courts.
In a bourse filing late on Wednesday, Folli said creditors holding 139.5 million euros ($168.9 million) of Swiss bonds and creditors holding 249.5 million euros of Eurobonds convened on Dec. 9 and approved by majority its financial restructuring.
The restructuring plan includes shutting down loss-making stores, transferring most of its core business and all of its real estate assets to creditors and issuing a 13 million euros loan to cover immediate cash needs.
Folli said would file the plan with a Greek court later this month.
($1 = 0.8260 euros)
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Mark Potter) ((angeliki.koutantou@thomsonreuters.com; +30 210 3376436; Reuters Messaging: angeliki.koutantou.reuters.com@reuters.net))
