As Jan Kulczyk built his empire: he did not have to start from scratch, as no one could do business with the state – GazetaPrawna.pl

Traditional businesses is not enough

Kulczyk, as you know, did not have to start from scratch. The first million – as he would say – he got from his father. While still a communist in the 80s, he managed to build a considerable business. Since exports paste bph for the import of agricultural machinery to bring the Volkswagen Group cars – such as centrally controlled economy was a true magnate.

But in the ’90s such traditional businesses it was too little. To really count, you had to enter into relations with the state. And such an opportunity is not missed – mainly due to privatization. But in the case Kulczyk others. His first big deal with the state is a contract for the supply of cars for the police – in the course of yet begun in the previous decade. Not much later he founded the company Autostrada Wielkopolska. Although it had a difficult beginning: for the concession had to wait, the construction of the highway began after a few years, problems with getting funding threatened to break cooperation by the Treasury. But since the road is passable, it remains to count the proceeds from the drivers and the grantor – the state (putting aside for current expenses and debt repayment).

In 1993. The best opportunity came Kulczyk bought from State shares in Wielkopolska Breweries. In time, he found her partner with a beer know-how – South African Breweries – he bought another plant, and eventually turned into shares of the company on the qualities of Polish business partner. He received a package a few percent, but today, after a rise in the share price of SABMiller by more than 600 percent. since its debut on the London Stock Exchange, it is valued even at over 9 billion zł. What was the initial motivation Kulczyk? “Gazeta Wyborcza” she wrote in September 1993., That for 40 percent. Greater Brewery shares of Kulczyk pay 200 billion zł and is committed to investments worth 150 billion zł. After denomination is a total of 35 million.

Finance and telecommunications

After entering the brewing business Kulczyk worked in the insurance business (he was a minority shareholder of state Warta, in the late 90s took control of it by buying shares from the Treasury) and banking (in 1997. together with Warta bought from country a quarter of the shares of Universal Credit Bank, which a year later sold to the Austrian Creditanstalt; he was also a shareholder of Volkswagen Bank Poland – there was no state participation, but was continued cooperation with the German company).

A lot of the confusion caused its involvement in cellular telephony. Here, too, it does not run between business and the state. In the mid-90s Kulczyk was one of the initiators of the establishment of Polish PTC, one of the three (initially two) companies, which for many years shared this market in Poland. All three were created by state-owned companies. Kulczyk was one of the few partners of these projects. Apparently it’s thanks to him PTC was required to operate the concession. A businessman had less than 5 percent. stake in the resulting cost of several million dollars. After a few years, it turned out that it also has a low-cost option to repurchase the shares of PTC from the state conglomerate Elektrim. When the storm broke around this information (Elektrim was then the largest companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, and the minority shareholders were not aware of the agreement), Kulczyk agreed to cancel the purchase of shares in exchange for 100 million zł. Later also he earned on the sale of PTC and Elektrim that your package state sold the company controlled by him Warta. PTC operated under the brand Era. Today is T-Mobile Poland, a company belonging to the group Deutsche Telekom.

Telecommunications liked the Poznań businessman so that it will soon once again start a career in this industry. In 2000. France Telecom supported in their efforts to participate in the privatization of Polish Telecom. French for a long time tried to buy the minority stake from the Treasury, but succeeded only when they created a consortium with Kulczyk. This did not put up their own money, only he obtained the loan, which is guaranteed FT. Co-TP remained until 2004. When he sold shares in France Telecom.

FT is now Orange. Telecommunications Poland after the privatization a few years ago changed its name to Orange Poland.

Unique

Along the way, it was still buying a minority stake in controlled by the state Orlen (one of the consequences was heard by MPs in the committee of inquiry on Orlen) and the assumption shared among the state Polish Power Grid, the company Polenergia. From the middle of the past decade Kulczyk but did not enter into new transactions with Polish state-owned partners. Ice biggest privatization was already virtually completed in 2005. PiS came to power that doing business in the Third Republic treat, to put it mildly, with some suspicion (which does not mean that Kulczyk wasted time: build a group dedicated to the extraction of raw materials, mainly in Africa, together with American partner has launched a fund investing in real estate). He tried until the reign of the Civic Platform. The first approach – the privatization of energy group Enea – failed. It went better last year, there was an opportunity to take Ciech.

Although a number of the most notorious lasted longer Kulczyk businesses: cooperation with Volkswagen ended only a few years ago, in the brewing business, his company is still present, as is the highway, the Warta came after more than 10 years, with the Telecommunication – after four, it does not lack examples of transactions in which there was only (and until) a clip that allows large, usually foreign partners to enter our market. Or functioned as an intermediary – buying shares of companies and the soon sold them at a profit. And they were usually transactions involving the privatized companies, and their amount went into the hundreds of millions, if not billions of zlotys, it is no wonder that the businessman aroused controversy. It fueled them that among CEOs, members of management and supervisory boards of companies controlled by him, there was no shortage of former politicians and activists (though not only, and is former editor-in-chief of “Gazeta Prawna”).

Although businessmen who did business with the state and with government orders, it was more, it Kulczyk was one of a kind. What is different from them? First of all, diversification of interests. Krauze for many years kojarzyliśmy of informatics and Social Security, other businesses already so were not successful, and the attempt existence in the raw material completely swept him from among the likes of Polish business. Gudzowaty – is gas and Bartimpeks (although he was the owner of the bank). A Kulczyk entered where there were occasions. I was not afraid of working with large partners. In large parts of businesses, particularly that they required capital-intensive and often too specialized know-how, there was only a minority shareholder.

This, like many industries operate, made the assessment how much he was worth his fortune, and even that brought revenues and profits, borders on impossible (“Forbes” has recently been pricing estate Kulczyk at over 15 billion zł, “Wprost” a little more than 13 billion) – though here just difficult to discern the difference with other billionaires.

The billionaire or a thousand millionaires

Kulczyk was also unique because of further such already have will not. Or at least their estates will not be formed in such a way. Privatization is actually behind us, industries divided so that the leaders usually come from abroad, and public procurement – although to criticize them – make an agreement with the state is much more civilized than one or two decades ago. It is true that the Polish float billions from the EU, but this stream has very many recipients. Billions fortune of not arise.

remain so traditional ways. What? The statement says that many of the richest Poles. At the last such list of “Wprost” 36 people are former owners of industrial companies and 26 – trade. Informatics? It works in the West (greatly helped by the fact that the examples of the great successes in the IT industry quickly get on the stock exchange, where they do not need much time to gain billions of dollars of valuation, giving high places in the rankings of billionaires). We are rated in the top four names associated with IT.

And one more thing: you may want to ask yourself whether you prefer one holder billion worth of assets, or a thousand of those who earned a million .