CMS provides advice on key family business transaction in Poland

CMS has advised the shareholders of Polska Dystrybucja Alkoholi on the sale of 100% of the company’s shares to Eurocash Group. The share purchase agreement was concluded on 30 December 2016, following the fulfilment of the President of the Consumer and Competition Protection Office’s condition that a warehouse for alcoholic beverages in Pabianice, owned by Polska Dystrybucja Alkoholi, be excluded from the planned transaction.

In the last three months CMS’s corporate team also supported the family business Allcom as well as the founders of a chain of restaurants operating under the brand name Thai Wok in the sale process.

“After years of dynamic growth many Polish companies and family businesses are looking for new sources of financing to further their development, obtain new know-how or create structures that provide support for international operations”, says Marek Sawicki, partner responsible for transactions at CMS. “At the same time, they are large businesses with good prospects that represent attractive assets for private equity funds or industry investors. There will be more and more of these kinds of transactions on our market, also in connection with the generational change we observe within Polish enterprises. Just in the last quarter of 2016 we supported three Polish businesses with established market positions in relation to ownership changes. A smooth transfer of power in an enterprise requires a lot of preparation. It is crucial to work out, within this process, one’s own business and legal solutions, not only to allow the further development of the company, but also to help maintain the current system of values as well as the manner of doing business.”

Polska Dystrybucja Alkoholi – since November known as Jantoń Dystrybucja – was established in 2002 and distributes alcoholic beverages. Eurocash is the largest Polish group dedicated to the wholesale distribution of food products, household chemicals, alcohol and tobacco products (FMCG). The company has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 2005. As announced by Eurocash Group, the acquisition of PDA “is yet another element of the Group's acquisition policy” and “enables the further development of Eurocash Group in the segment of alcohol distribution as well as a potential revenue growth”.

The transaction was conducted by Marek Sawicki, partner and co-head of Corporate/M&A Department at CMS.