We are pleased to announce that we advised BEST S.A. (“BEST”), one of the leading companies on the Polish financial services market, on aspects of their merger with Kredyt Inkaso S.A. (“KISA”), a company at the forefront of the debt management industry in Poland. This is the largest ever merger on the debt management market in Central and Eastern Europe.
On 20 February 2025 the companies signed a merger plan, which sets the foundation for a merger by acquisition of KISA (the acquired company) by BEST (the acquiring company) by means of the transfer of all of the assets of KISA to BEST in exchange for shares in BEST granted to eligible shareholders of KISA. The shareholders of KISA will be granted merger shares in exchange for their shares in the following ratio: 0.67537 (BEST shares) for 1 (KISA share).
On the same day, an investment and pre-merger agreement was concluded between BEST and Waterland, the majority shareholder of KISA, and Krzysztof Borusowski and Marek Kucner, the majority shareholders and members of the Management Board of BEST.
The transaction team was led by Paweł Rymarz (managing partner) and Aleksandra Dobrzyńska-Grezel (partner), with the support of Małgorzata Deruś (senior associate) and Adam Puchalski (counsel). In the area of competition law, support was provided by Iwona Her (partner) and Tomasz Kordala (senior associate).
We take great pride in the fact that our law firm was chosen to advise on the process of merging two leading companies in the Polish debt collection industry, and helped create a strong Polish group on the European debt market. We congratulate our client and thank all of the advisors and parties involved in the process for their cooperation.