Getin sails for Europa

The general meeting of Getin Holding's shareholders, scheduled for September 7, is expected to accept the issue 70 million L-series shares. The funds gained will be spent on the acquisition of over 7.8 million TU Europa shares, currently owned by Leszek Czarnecki and LC Corp. The company is taking this route to finance the acquisition after the Insurance and Pension Funds Supervisory Commission (KNUiFE) recently decided against allowing Getin Holding to finance its acquisition of TU Europa through its own shares.

"Part of the holding's strategy is to possess an insurance company. Europa's products are complimentary to the products of Getin Bank. TU Europa specializes in bancasurance and Getin Bank specializes in loans and mortgages for individuals as well as small and micro enterprises," says Piotr Stępniak, president of Getin Holding. He adds that there are no plans to delist TU Europa from the Warsaw bourse.

Europa Group's H1 2006 net profit reached zł.26.7 million, compared to zł.13.6 million in H1 2005 and zł.8.3 million in H1 2004. "The growing demand for banking and insurance products allows us to strengthen our position as the unquestionable bancassurance expert and leader," says Jacek Podoba, deputy president of TU Europa, which currently cooperates with 11 out of the 15 largest banks in Poland.

Getin Holding's Q2 2006 net profit amounted to zł.58.2 million, compared to zł.17.3 million in Q2 2005. Getin's H1 2006 net profit reached zł.82.6 million, in contrast to zł.32 million in H1 2005. According to Stępniak, Getin Bank was the motor of Getin Holding's successful results.

Andrzej Wróbel