All's fair in love and PR
The conflict blew up between Migut Media SA, which owns 51 percent of BCA, and Barbara Kwiecień, the minority shareholder who left BCA together with the majority of the firm's staff and customers, for the newly opened Polish branch of Edelman Inc. Wiesław Migut (left), who owns Migut Media, claims Kwiecień acted deliberately to the detriment of BCA by ending the tenancy agreement, flogging off office equipment, and persuading staff to jump ship for Edelman Polska - all without informing her partner.
Kwiecień, however, denies the accusations and Edelman Inc. claims it played a fair game as the situation spiralled out of control, by first approaching Wiesław Migut with a proposal to buy his shares in BCA. But BCA's CEO says he has no recollection of such an offer and is now pressing legal charges against his former business partner.
Katarzyna Dębek: What is the latest development in BCA's conflict with Barbara Kwiecień?
Wiesław Migut: I have submitted a formal complaint to the prosecutor. My numerous attempts to enter into contact with Ms. Kwiecień and receive some sensible explanations went down the drain.
We are now trying to call a new management and supervisory board [to] put together the scant remains of the company and make an appointment with Ms. Barbara Kwiecień for an Extraordinary shareholders' meeting. But for the last two days, we have not received her confirmation nor her refusal to appear. She has come up with new demands, though - the strangest one being that me and the new management should drop all legal charges against her.
What exactly would you like to achieve during the meeting?
We need to secure financial documentation, the company's assets - computers and other equipment. There are also people employed as not everybody left the company. Ms. Kwiecień totally forgot about an employee who would now like to come back to work after her maternity leave and she has simply nowhere to come back to as BCA has stopped functioning. Her national insurance contributions were not paid and she is now in a very difficult situation.
So BCA stopped operating. Is there any hope for coming back to life?
There's a person interested in buying Ms. Kwiecień's [49 percent] shares. The person talked to me about it as I'm still the majority shareholder with the pre-emptive right. Then the person talked to Ms. Kwiecień and she is willing to sell under the condition that the buyer will drop all legal charges against her.
Could you reveal the name of the potential buyer?
I cannot do it, yet. But it is someone well known to the PR and marketing branch. Someone with a lot of experience in the area.
Barbara Kwiecień left BCA for a newly opened branch of Edelman Inc. in Poland. Edelman claims to have asked to buy your shares in BCA a couple of times, but with no success. How are you going to tackle this issue?
I want to stress again that I have never received purchase offers from Edelman Inc. When it comes to Barbara Kwiecień we know for sure we can initiate criminal proceedings against her. The problem with Edelman Inc. is much more complex. For the time being, we cannot press legal charges against the company itself. We are hoping it will soon change, though. It is more than a matter of unethical conduct. Article 12 of the Act on combating unfair competition provides us with the possibility to initiate criminal instead of civil proceedings against the unfair competitor. In the case of Edelman Inc., it meant persuading our clients to break their contracts. We have already taken legal steps.
And what is the reaction of your professional environment? Have you had any signs of support from your colleagues?
The reactions were surprisingly positive. The Polish Public Relations Association offered to act as a mediator in the conflict. The Foreign Investors' Chamber of Industry and Commerce and Polish PR Companies Association took a very firm stance on the issue, condemning Edelman Inc.'s unethical actions in their official statements. People are contacting us just to express their support or to give us names and telephone numbers of lawyers specializing in this kind of affair. This is exactly how we started our co-operation with our current lawyers - they were recommended by a CEO who had encountered similar problems.
What solution to the problem would satisfy you?
It is a very difficult question. I have incurred financial losses related to the years-long investments in BCA - we're talking about almost zł.1 million that simply evaporated as a result of criminal activities of a couple of people. So it is only natural that I would like to get that money back.
However, it seems to me that the market value of BCA from before the conflict was a couple of times bigger than its share capital. It was not a big company but it was doing well with around zł.4 million in annual revenue.
But the real value of the company were the people - its employees and customers. I think the latter will not come back to BCA but will chose a third player.
Interview by Katarzyna Dębek
Kwiecień, however, denies the accusations and Edelman Inc. claims it played a fair game as the situation spiralled out of control, by first approaching Wiesław Migut with a proposal to buy his shares in BCA. But BCA's CEO says he has no recollection of such an offer and is now pressing legal charges against his former business partner.
Katarzyna Dębek: What is the latest development in BCA's conflict with Barbara Kwiecień?
Wiesław Migut: I have submitted a formal complaint to the prosecutor. My numerous attempts to enter into contact with Ms. Kwiecień and receive some sensible explanations went down the drain.
We are now trying to call a new management and supervisory board [to] put together the scant remains of the company and make an appointment with Ms. Barbara Kwiecień for an Extraordinary shareholders' meeting. But for the last two days, we have not received her confirmation nor her refusal to appear. She has come up with new demands, though - the strangest one being that me and the new management should drop all legal charges against her.
What exactly would you like to achieve during the meeting?
We need to secure financial documentation, the company's assets - computers and other equipment. There are also people employed as not everybody left the company. Ms. Kwiecień totally forgot about an employee who would now like to come back to work after her maternity leave and she has simply nowhere to come back to as BCA has stopped functioning. Her national insurance contributions were not paid and she is now in a very difficult situation.
So BCA stopped operating. Is there any hope for coming back to life?
There's a person interested in buying Ms. Kwiecień's [49 percent] shares. The person talked to me about it as I'm still the majority shareholder with the pre-emptive right. Then the person talked to Ms. Kwiecień and she is willing to sell under the condition that the buyer will drop all legal charges against her.
Could you reveal the name of the potential buyer?
I cannot do it, yet. But it is someone well known to the PR and marketing branch. Someone with a lot of experience in the area.
Barbara Kwiecień left BCA for a newly opened branch of Edelman Inc. in Poland. Edelman claims to have asked to buy your shares in BCA a couple of times, but with no success. How are you going to tackle this issue?
I want to stress again that I have never received purchase offers from Edelman Inc. When it comes to Barbara Kwiecień we know for sure we can initiate criminal proceedings against her. The problem with Edelman Inc. is much more complex. For the time being, we cannot press legal charges against the company itself. We are hoping it will soon change, though. It is more than a matter of unethical conduct. Article 12 of the Act on combating unfair competition provides us with the possibility to initiate criminal instead of civil proceedings against the unfair competitor. In the case of Edelman Inc., it meant persuading our clients to break their contracts. We have already taken legal steps.
And what is the reaction of your professional environment? Have you had any signs of support from your colleagues?
The reactions were surprisingly positive. The Polish Public Relations Association offered to act as a mediator in the conflict. The Foreign Investors' Chamber of Industry and Commerce and Polish PR Companies Association took a very firm stance on the issue, condemning Edelman Inc.'s unethical actions in their official statements. People are contacting us just to express their support or to give us names and telephone numbers of lawyers specializing in this kind of affair. This is exactly how we started our co-operation with our current lawyers - they were recommended by a CEO who had encountered similar problems.
What solution to the problem would satisfy you?
It is a very difficult question. I have incurred financial losses related to the years-long investments in BCA - we're talking about almost zł.1 million that simply evaporated as a result of criminal activities of a couple of people. So it is only natural that I would like to get that money back.
However, it seems to me that the market value of BCA from before the conflict was a couple of times bigger than its share capital. It was not a big company but it was doing well with around zł.4 million in annual revenue.
But the real value of the company were the people - its employees and customers. I think the latter will not come back to BCA but will chose a third player.
Interview by Katarzyna Dębek
