Enterprise Investors invests in Polish messenger Service Stolica

Enterprise Investors has been investing in Poland and CEE since 1990. In the next three to four years EI plans to invest up to $300 million more in the region’s most promising businesses.

Messenger Service Stolica SA is a fast-growing Polish company founded and managed by a group of skilled entrepreneurs. The company started eight years ago as a family business run from a small flat owned by one of the founders, and grew into a complex logistics operation with sales exceeding PLN 150 million. Over the past four years sales have grown seventeenfold.

Stolica provides local, nationwide and international courier services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The company delivers 25,000 parcels every day and offers next-day delivery (by 8 a.m.) to any address in Poland through its chain of 43 domestic representatives. As the exclusive Polish representative of Airborne Express and Federal Express, Stolica is able to deliver parcels to 200 countries worldwide within 1-2 days. The company employs 2,500 people, including 1,300 couriers.

The Polish market for courier, express, and parcel services has been growing by 40-50% p.a. since the early 1990s, and its estimated value reached $175-195 million in 2000. Comparable statistics from Western Europe indicate that the Polish market has potential for further growth. The demand for time-definite delivery services in Poland is expected to grow at least 20% p.a. in the next few years, driven by the growth of the Polish economy, the need for Polish companies to become more competitive due to integration with the EU, and the emergence of new segments of the express courier and parcel market in Poland.

“The founders and management team of Stolica have built the leading Polish express, courier and parcel operator in Poland. We believe that with the capital provided by Polish Enterprise Fund IV and EI’s know-how, Stolica will become a thoroughly modern company able to compete with the largest players operating on the Polish express, courier and parcel market,” said Dariusz Prończuk, a partner at Enterprise Investors, who is responsible for the investment.

“The capital provided by the investor will be assigned to upgrading the IT operational system as well as constructing and equipping the hub. This is a way of strengthening our market position and maintaining volume growth at 30% p.a. With a modern infrastructure we will be able to improve quality control and security, as well as our ability to react immediately to clients’ needs,” said Zbigniew Twardowski, president of Messenger Service Stolica.

Enterprise Investors has been active in Poland and the CEE region since 1990. The four funds managed by Enterprise Investors – Polish Enterprise Fund IV, the Polish Enterprise Fund, Polish Private Equity Funds I & II, and the Polish–American Enterprise Fund – have invested almost $600 million in 80 companies across all economic sectors in Poland and Romania. The funds have exited 37 investments and returned over $400 million to investors.