‘We clearly see the commitment of PE and market leaders in M&A’: President of Bank Handlowy

For the first time on such a large scale, companies with a non-investment rating can finance themselves on the capital market, assessed Sławomir S. Sikora, president of Bank Handlowy. The involvement of private equity funds and market leaders in the consolidation is clearly visible.

"We are already thinking today that the Polish economy will rebound next year. At what level – it can be discussed. Next year – in our opinion – the economy will enter the growth path despite the second wave. We see our position as a bank responding to three megatrends observed in our companies. First of all – industry consolidation, where stronger players and private equity funds consolidate industries, strengthen management, reduce costs, introduce innovations and new technologies," Sikora said during the videoconference.

"We can clearly see the commitment of funds and market leaders to consolidation," he stressed.

He added that according to PwC data, 25 percent of CFOs believe that M&A transactions are an opportunity to rebuild or increase revenues, which is an important trend and it is also visible on the Polish market.

"The second is the fact that, for the first time on such a scale, the market allows companies with a non-investment rating to finance themselves on the capital market," he pointed out.

As he noted, most companies in Poland do not have an investment rating and hence the advantage of a bank loan in financing these companies.

"This is changing and we believe that we are best positioned to introduce Polish companies with a below-investment rating to the international capital market," Sikora said.

The third noticeable megatrend is the acceleration of digitization caused by Covid-19, which will also shift single online platforms into ecosystems.

"Here we are talking about both platforms that were created and developed as online, and traditional players who go to remote sales. Here, thanks to our technological infrastructure, both on the transaction and FX side, we can see great popularity and an increase in the volume of cooperation with customers," he pointed out.

(ISBnews)