Innova Capital buys BWE bank

Innova Capital acquires 90.1 % of Bank Wspolpracy Europejskiej (BWE) from Gudzowaty’s family.

Bank Wspolpracy Europejskiej (www.bwe.pl)
BWE is a financial institution specializing in the provision of services to small and medium-sized enterprises, local government units, health service sector entities and individual customers. The Bank offers its customers a wide range of deposit and loan products, including loans for enterprises for projects financed from EU funds.

BWE assets totalled PLN 416 million (€ 107.1 million) last year and the bank posted a symbolic PLN 0.2 million (€ 0.05 million) profit.

Small stakes in BWE (respectively 4.5% and 5.4%) belong to the Ministry of Treasury and the insurer Cigna STU. Gudzowaty started his withdrawal from the financial sector last year when he sold Cigna STU to Austria’s Vienna Insurance group.

Innova Capital (www.innovacap.com)
Innova Capital is a leading private equity player in Central Europe, advising four investment funds in the region. In total Innova Capital has approximately € 500 million under management.

Innova’s strategy focuses on building companies into market leaders that can compete with the best in their fields worldwide. Innova funds mainly invest in media, financial services, IT/telecommunications, business services and manufacturing.

The list of Innova’s financial sector investments include ATM operator Euronet, card payment firm PolCard and credit broker Dom Finansowy QS.