Philips to pull out of finance
By the end of 2007, Philips' financial center in Łód will be sold to an external company. This is a part of Philips' strategy, which involves withdrawing from financial services and handing them over to external partners.
"We are selling all three centers in Łód, Thailand and India. We always wanted our finance centers to be leaders on market. But Philips is no longer managing to expand them, so we are looking for experts in this sector so that the financial centers will flourish," says Beata Ptaszyńska-Jedynak, Philips' spokesperson.
It is not yet known who will buy the Philips center in Łód, but the company promises that the new operator will provide services for Philips and other companies, and that it will be a reputable firm specializing in financial services. According to daily Puls Biznesu, companies such as Accenture, HP and IBM BTO Business Consulting Services are among the possible investors, with the latter being the most likely to take over Łód center. Philips did not confirm this information.
Philips' Finance Shared Service Center was opened in 2005. Currently it employs more than 800 people who provide financial services for about 200 of the company's subsidiaries. Philips says that current employees need not fear losing their jobs as, far from making any redundancies, the new owner will be looking to hire more workers. "The people who work there now satisfy Philips' needs. I think that those people will continue to work there," said Ptaszyńska-Jedynak.
It is possible that, as a result of the sale, Philips will have to return the financial aid it received from the state and the city when it opened the center. In order to encourage the company to invest in Poland, the government granted it with E3.8 (zł.14.4) million and the Łód authorities exempted it from a year's worth of land and real-estate taxes.
