Ljubljana - The Celje District Court approved on Wednesday an agreement on financial restructuring for the heavily indebted retail group Tuš. Thus the Alfi fund, which owns more than 80% of all claims to the group, is gradually taking over the managing of the Celje-based group.

The court-approved agreement has thus entered into force for all claims, shows the court's press release on the web site of the AJPES agency for legal records.

The Tuš group, which has so far been owned by its founder Mirko Tuš, has been working through its mountain of debt for several years. The group includes the parent company Tuš Holding, the real estate arm Tuš Nepremičnine and retailer Engrotuš.

The newspaper finance reported on Tuesday that Alfi, the biggest creditor of the Tuš group has gradually become the owner of 80% of all claims of the struggling group, has cashed in on most of insurance policies to become the owner of about half of real estate owned by Tuš Nepremičnine.

These include mostly shops but also some land, including in Serbia.

According to Finance, the Anacap fund, Alfi's rival in the acquisition of the debt, is still deciding on whether to convert debt into equity, while two creditors, the Sparkasse bank and the bad bank, have rejected the possibility, and will wait for five years to be paid.

Tuš Nepremičnine owes them about EUR 150 million.

Alfi is reportedly also to convert debt into equity in Engrotuš and become the owner of 80% of the retailer, leaving Tuš Holding only 20%. In that case Alfi is to take over the managing of Engrotuš in December.

An advisory body is then to be appointed that would have a similar role as the supervisory board. Alfi is to appoint four members to the five-strong body, while one will be appointed by the Tuš family.

The management, which comprises of Jure Kapetan and Andraž and Tanja Tuš, will have to seek consent for most deals, including some worth just EUR 50,000.

Mirko Tuš retired from the company in the spring of 2019 after a spine injury, handing over to his son and marketing director Andraž Tuš.

At the end of 2019, preventive restructuring was launched for the group, whose main line of business is retail with entertainment, recreation, hospitality and real estate as side lines.

In 2018 the group fell from third to fourth place among Slovenia's largest grocers.

Since first Tuš shop was opened 30 years ago, the company developed into a group with 100 stores with more than 3,100 employees, but became heavily indebted during the last financial crisis.