Enterprise Investors acquires 70% of Kruk Systemy Inkaso, Poland’s leading receivables management company

Kruk Systemy Inkaso, based in Wrocław, Poland, was founded in 1998. It provides debt management and collection services for corporate clients, including banks, utilities, pay TV operators, and telecoms. Kruk’s clients include the some of the highest profile international businesses operating on the Polish market, such as ING, Raiffeisen, Canal+, UPC, Avon Cosmetics and Era Mobile.

Kruk has experienced a fivefold increase in the volume of client accounts serviced, from PLN 180 million ($45 million) in 2001 to PLN 903 million ($225.7 million) in 2002. Kruk’s net profit in 2002 was PLN 7.3 million ($1.8 million).

The retail receivables market that Kruk now leads is expected to continue its rapid expansion, due to the growth of consumer loans and accounts coupled to the increasing recognition among banks and other businesses of the need to outsource debt collection services.

“The outsourcing trend observed in other European markets and now initiated in the Polish banking sector leads us to believe that the market will keep stimulating Kruk’s growth in coming years,” said Dariusz Prończuk, a partner at Enterprise Investors.

“Kruk’s strategy is to strengthen its position as a strong market leader in Poland. We believe that Enterprise Investors will contribute significantly to Kruk’s further development, given the investor’s experience in the financial sector and expertise in building business value,” commented Piotr Krupa, president and founder of Kruk.

Enterprise Investors has been active since 1990. Funds managed by Enterprise Investors have invested over $650 million in almost 90 companies across a broad range of business sectors in Poland as well as Central and Eastern Europe.

EI has been a successful investor in banks and financial institutions, including Opel Bank, Rabobank, and the First Polish-American Bank, now owned by Fortis. Lukas, which EI sold to Crédit Agricole in 2001, was one of the most successful investments in the financial sector in the region. This investment in Kruk underlines EI’s support for innovation in the sector, and the firm’s leadership in its search for superior returns.