Enterprise Investors’ Venture Fund invests €2.2 million in EP Serwis

EP Serwis will use the capital injection to develop its pallet pooling services. The joint aim of Enterprise Investors and EP Serwis is to strengthen the company’s market position during the investment period.

EP Serwis has been operating on the wooden pallets market in Poland since 2000. At present the company provides comprehensive pallet services that include pooling, trading, exchange, logistics and repair, as well as recycling of used pallets (from which it manufactures pallet brackets). EP Serwis employs 140 people at its headquarters and plant in Kozienice, central Poland. The company collects pallets from 1,500 distribution points across the whole country and collaborates with several service points nationwide. Open pallet pooling, which EP Serwis introduced as a new service on the Polish market in 2010, has had a dynamic effect on the company’s growth and profitability. EP Serwis’s annual revenues are now approaching €10 million.

Pallet pooling is just starting to develop in Poland, with only a small percentage of the pallets in circulation being rented. In the United States, Australia and Western Europe, more than 50% of pallets are pooled. This means that the vast majority of the Polish market remains to be captured, implying huge growth prospects for this segment.

“We are happy to have joined forces with EP Serwis. All the measures taken by the company in the last few years, from the most basic activities connected with pallet production right up to the innovative service of pallet pooling, have turned EP Serwis into the market leader on Poland’s open pallet pooling market,” said Rafał Bator, a partner at Enterprise Investors. “The Polish market of EPAL-standard pallet rental services is in its infancy and our due diligence has shown that EP Serwis is best positioned to capture this emerging segment,” he added.

“EP Serwis wants to significantly accelerate its growth through upfront investment in system development and pallet pool expansion, both of which are needed to win new customers. We searched for a partner that would not only provide the necessary capital but also support us with corporate know-how. Hence we decided to collaborate with Enterprise Venture Fund I,” commented Marek Parkot, CEO of EP Serwis.

Enterprise Investors is one of the largest private equity and venture capital firms in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. Active since 1990, the firm manages funds with capital exceeding €2 billion. These funds have invested €1.6 billion in 129 companies across a range of sectors and exited 96 companies with total gross proceeds of €1.8 billion.

Enterprise Venture Fund I is an EI-managed venture capital fund raised in 2008 with total capital of €100 million. Its investments typically range from €1 million to €5 million per project but can exceed that amount if an investment is attractive. The fund finances the expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises operating in a range of sectors. To date, EVF has realized twelve investments in companies operating in Poland and CEE.

For further information, please contact:
Enterprise Investors:
Rafał Bator
Partner
tel. +48 22 458 85 00

Iwona Drabot
Public Relations Director
tel. +48 22 458 85 00

EP Serwis:
Marek Parkot

CEO
tel. +48 48 382 05 24