Galina Gerega, co-founder of Epicenter K LLC (Kiev), indirectly through Epicenter K and Paravita Holding Limited (Nicosia) has obtained over 50% of votes in Intersport Polska S.A., which develops a chain of stores with the same name in Poland.
As reported by the Polish company on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on October 4, this happened after the above companies participated in the closed subscription for Intersport Polska series J shares, with Epicenter K’s share in the total number of votes exceeding 10%.
It is specified that the paid-in share capital of the Polish company amounts to PLN 8 million 274.49 thousand.
During the subscription, 12 million 655.468 thousand shares were sold to one company at a price of PLN1.0471 per share ($0.27 per share).
As reported, Gerega indirectly received 51.3% of Intersport Polska’s share capital at the end of last year within the framework of the investment agreement concluded by the Polish company with Epicenter K and Paravita Holding, but at that time her share of votes was just short of 50% – 49.94%.
The investment agreement with Epicenter K and Paravita Holding, which also operates stores under the Intersport brand in Ukraine, was concluded on April 19, 2023. The document envisaged a total investment of EUR10 million by the partner and the investor. This amount was to be used, in particular, for the development of the Polish company by opening new stores and modernizing existing ones.
On November 17, Yulia Maksymenko and Aivars Bunde, managing and commercial directors of Epicenter K LLC, a separate subdivision of Intersport Ukraine, joined the supervisory board of Intersport Polska.
Gerega at this week’s forum “Dialogues with NV on the Future. Business and War” in Kiev, said that Intersport Polska was unprofitable, it had no strategic investors, so Epicenter K, which had high indicators of the development of the Intersport project in Ukraine, was invited to cooperate.
“And we agreed to go and help realize this project,” she said, adding that this raised the image of the Ukrainian company in front of international partners.
Speaking about the current problems, Gerega pointed to the lack of staff. “Even for such a small Intersport in Poland, we faced the same staffing problem we have now in Ukraine. Even among Ukrainians who left temporarily to Poland, we can’t find effective staff for them to work in this Intersport,” she stated at the forum.
In the 2023/24 fiscal year (ended March 31, 2024), Intersport Polska’s revenue fell 21% to PLN189.1 million, while its net loss rose to PLN39.6 million from PLN13.1 million a year earlier.
The Intersport Polska network, according to its website, includes 31 stores and a delivery network with about 500 employees, while the Intersport network has about 5,400 stores worldwide.
