The first conference in a cycle "Polish Private Equity Forum" organised in collaboration with the Polish Private Equity Association (PPEA) was a success. Hence, we encourage you to put the June "PPE FORUM" into your diaries as a regular event.

Barbara Nowakowska of the Polish Private Equity Association (PPEA) welcomed conference guests, mentioning it was the first conference in the PE environment referring to the term "Barbarians at the gate, at last". Barbara emphasised she would like the speakers to refer to this title in a critical way, and the results will certainly be very interesting.

Jacek Siwicki of Enterprise Investors started the official part of the forum, with his "glance at the sector with a pinch of cynicism" showing the real situation of the PE sector on the Polish market. He also stressed that after a long time of pessimism we were witnessing an "unhealthy wave of optimism regarding PE". He commented on the surprisingly good results of a survey carried out by Deloitte entitled "optimism index in the PE sector".

The forum was divided into four panels. During each of them we heard opinions proving that the PE market and Poland's position among Central European states are getting stronger and the interest in investing in Poland is increasing. This means that the general opinions are positive. However, one must look hard at all the changes on the market and keep one's distance from the optimistic opinions on improvement of the situation.

The way the program of the conference was prepared was aimed at drawing the participants' attention to various aspects of co-operation between entrepreneurs and PE funds. Representatives of the entrepreneurial sector, i.e. Zbigniew Mendel of PPU Izoterm and Andrzej Voigt of AV Investor took part in the last panel alongside representatives of funds. Apart from the official talks during the panel, representatives of both sectors could also meet during the Garden Party closing the conference.

The forum organised by the Executive Club was a perfect occasion to exchange information on the future of the Private Equity market in Poland in international company. Besides the opportunity to discuss the issues raised during the forum our Guests could establish new business contacts. The invited speakers included a number of specialists active both in Poland and abroad, incl. Cezary Stypułkowski (J.P.Morgan), Jacek Siwicki (Enterprise Investors), Edward MacDonald (CAG), Rafał Sosna (Penta Investments), Sławomir Janiszewski (PricewaterhouseCoopers).

The event was organised under the Honorary Patronage of the Polish Private Equity Association (PPEA). Law office Gide Loyrette Nouel was the content patron, Holon Consultants was the strategic patron and TIETO was the main partner of the forum. We also wish to thank Copernicus Group and Penta Investments as well as our main media patrons: TVN CNBC and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily.