Creta Farms shareholders continue standoff

Financially troubled deli producer Creta Farms is in limbo, with its creditors refusing to accept any solution other than brothers Manolis and Konstantinos Domazakis, who own an 80 percent stake, putting their shares up as collateral for a new 8-million-euro loan.

The brothers have refused to do so, despite pressure from the government, but all their counterproposals have been rejected by the creditors.

Production has ceased and some of the company’s 800 employees have already been fired.

The situation is further complicated by the expected intervention of the European Investment Bank, which has funded Creta Farms to the tune of 15 million euros, the first Greek company to be funded from the European Fund for Strategic Investments, part of the so-called Juncker package.

The company has absorbed the whole package, with two final installments of 3.5 million and 1.5 million being paid in January and April 2019, respectively.