The Participants of Executive Club have the possibility to participate in business meetings, seminars and discussion panels. Below we present the most interesting information regarding activities of the Club.

June 17th 2009
Will the crisis and private equity investors create new market leaders? - we tried to answer this question during another Executive Club meeting organised on 17June, as usual, in the Sobański Palace.

We invited representatives of leading private equity funds and the managers of their portfolio companies to the discussion about current investments and events on the Polish market of mergers and acquisitions.
Rafał Bator - Partner, Enterprise Investors
Jacek Korpała - Partner, Arx Equity Partners
Krzysztof Koniecko - President of the Management Board, Dystrybucja Polska
Piotr Misztal - Partner, Société Générale Asset Management Alternative Investments
Tadeusz Nowicki - President of the Management Board, Ergis-Eurofilms
Adam Pawłowicz - President of the Management Board, Skorpion Security
The discussion was moderated by Rafał Błędowski - Partner at Holon Consultants.
In the opinion of the participants of the debate, the current crisis on the market is a good time for consolidation. The crisis means that there is less room on the market and it is not possible to expand through organic revenue growth. Furthermore, company results are worsening and sometimes consolidation is a question of survival for the company. After many years of growth, company owners are arriving at the point in which they are unable to expand any further without receiving support and without changing their structures.
During the discussion, attention was drawn to the specific nature of consolidation at times of crisis - companies are bought cheaply, but these are companies with problems, usually in shrinking sectors.
In the current liquidity crisis, private equity funds could be helpful to many companies experiencing financing problems. They currently have capital of more than EUR 4 billion assigned for acquisitions and recapitalisation of companies in Central Europe. Unfortunately, a large number of projects currently being presented are of a rescue nature and are quickly dropped, although some of the panel members believe that funds will start to invest again in the second half of the year.
After the official part ended, the Guests were able to continue their discussions with the panel members and representatives of known private equity funds participating in the meeting in the club atmosphere.
The meeting was accompanied by discreet music performed by JOONG QUARTET.
We would like to thank the meeting's Partners, WKB Wierciński, Kwieciński, Baehr, a law office specialising in all areas of business law, as well as Bentley Warszawa.

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