Enterprise Investors acquires 100% of Skarbiec Asset Management Holding

Skarbiec Asset Management Holding is composed of a mutual fund manager (Skarbiec TFI) and a transfer agent (BRE Agent Transferowy). Skarbiec TFI is one of the oldest and most innovative asset management companies in Poland with PLN 3.3 billion (approx. €0.8 billion) of assets under management and almost 4% market share. BRE Agent Transferowy is the second largest transfer agent in Poland, with around 20% market share.

The mutual fund and asset management markets in Poland are expanding very rapidly. Total assets under management which were PLN 3.2 billion in 1999 grew more than 25 times within the last 7 years to PLN 82 billion this year. The growth is expected to continue in the foreseeable future driven by the increasing disposable income and savings in Poland. Skarbiec TFI is one of the most innovative companies on the market and has been one of the fastest growing asset managers over the last 12 months. With 41% growth of assets under management in the first half of 2006, Skarbiec has been growing much faster than the entire market, which grew at a rate of 33%.

In 2005 the company’s net profit was PLN 8.3 million (approx. €2 million), and in the first six months of 2006 it totaled PLN 12.6 million (approx. €3 million).

“As a result of PEF V’s investment Skarbiec Group will become one of the largest independent asset managers in Poland. It has substantial potential for rapid growth through product expansion and development of sales channels. An experienced, motivated and reputable management team is ready to execute the growth plans,” commented Dariusz Prończuk, a partner at Enterprise Investors who is responsible for the firm’s investments in the financial sector.

The Skarbiec team is led by Bogusław Grabowski, its president, who worked with Leszek Balcerowicz as a member of the Monetary Policy Council of the National Bank of Poland and is seen as one of the top three macroeconomists in Poland.

In accordance with the well-established Enterprise Investors practice, a management option program will be introduced by the Skarbiec Group to maximize manager-shareholder interests.

Enterprise Investors has been active since 1990 and is the largest private equity firm in Central and Eastern Europe. The firm manages six funds totaling €1.6 billion. To date, private equity funds managed by Enterprise Investors have invested €0.9 billion in 102 companies and have exited 85 investments with total proceeds of over €1.1 billion.

Enterprise Investors is the leading private equity player in the financial services sector, and since 1991 has made 10 transactions in the sector totaling more than €135 million. The highly successful examples include the First Polish–American Bank (now Fortis), Polish–American Mortgage Bank (now GE Money Bank) and Lukas, the leading consumer credit institution in Poland, sold to Crédit Agricole in 2002. More recently the firm invested in Magellan, Poland’s leading non-bank financial institution in the hospital payables market as well as Kruk, the number one consumer receivables management company in Poland.