District Court in Poznań, Poland grants injunction against Mariusz Świtalski's children

WARSAW, Poland, May 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Forteam Investments Ltd., an investment company owned by American private equity firm Delta Capital Partners Management LLC, which is seeking over PLN 300 million (approximately USD $86 million) from Mariusz Świtalski and companies he controls, has secured another court injunction. The new measure was granted by the District Court in Poznań against the children of Mariusz Świtalski: Mateusz, Marcin, Mikołaj and Natasza. The injunction concerns certain of their assets, namely investment certificates in the fund Świtalski FIZ, which Mariusz Świtalski recently and covertly transferred to his children to the detriment of the creditor, Forteam.

"Mariusz Świtalski knows that he would eventually be compelled by law to pay millions of dollars pursuant to a guarantee issued to Forteam Investments when Małpka was sold to Forteam by Czerwona Torebka, a company Świtalski controlled. Not only has he tried to evade lawful creditors like us in the past, in recent weeks he has been undertaking further activities intended to conceal his assets in order to prevent Forteam from obtaining the justice it deserves," according to Delta's CEO Christopher DeLise.

Mariusz Świtalski is a Polish entrepreneur that has been named one of the richest persons in Poland by Wprost weekly.

In February of this year, the District Court in Poznań issued an injunction in favor of Forteam against Mariusz Świtalski and companies under his control that belong to Sowiniec Group, which resulted in the freezing of their assets until a final ruling in the case. Forteam's claim against him is more than PLN 300 million.

The injunction was obtained in anticipation of the conclusion of a civil proceeding against Mariusz Świtalski resulting from breach of a guarantee agreement executed by him in favor of Forteam in 2015.

By way of background, on May 8, 2015, Forteam purchased from Czerwona Torebka, a 100% stake in Małpka, the owner of the Małpka Express chain. Forteam eventually sold its 16.18% stake in Czerwona Torebka. The parties to that transaction were aware of Małpka's challenging situation and thus acknowledged in the agreement that additional considerable financing would be needed in order for Małpka to remain afloat.

Accordingly, Mariusz Świtalski and Sowiniec Group contractually agreed to guarantee that Forteam would make a profit from its investment when it eventually exited the business. In connection with the issuance of the guarantee in favor of Forteam, Mariusz Świtalski submitted a written declaration that his personal assets were sufficient to enable him to honor his obligations under the guarantee agreement.

Despite having engaged a well-respected independent investment bank in 2018 to run a robust sales process for it, Forteam was only able to sell Małpka Express for an amount well-below the minimum set forth in the definitive transaction documents and related guarantee agreement.

Accordingly, on December 28, 2018, Forteam notified Świtalski of its obligation to remit the monies owed to Forteam pursuant to the guarantee agreement. Notwithstanding, Świtalski and his companies have failed to pay any amounts due and owing to Forteam, which necessitated the filing of the injunctions and civil lawsuits. 

SOURCE Delta Capital Partners