Kruk to buy Italian collection company

WSE-listed debt collector Kruk will buy 51 percent stake in the collection company operating on the Italian market, the company said in a market filing. Provisions of the offer assume increasing the stake to 100 percent over the next few months. “We are consistently implementing our strategy for 2015-2019 and developing further areas of activity. In 2016, we acquired Credit Base, an organization with strong competencies in the acquisition of debt portfolios. Today we’re preparing to enter the debt management market,” said Kruk CEO Piotr Krupa. He added that through the acquisition of this organization, the company wants to accelerate the offering of collection services to business partners in Italy. The parties agreed that the share purchase agreement will be concluded no later than May 31, 2018. "We see a strong potential for business development resulting from the combination of this already effective organization, our good relations with banks on the Italian market and the international experience of the Kruk group. Our experience in the synergy of these business lines is unambiguously positive. In Poland, we are a leader on both these markets,” Krupa added. Kruk has been operating on the Italian collection market since 1994. In 2017, it generated €3.1 million in revenues. It employs 68 people and has over 80 business partners.