Zygmunt Solorz-Żak

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Zygmunt Solorz-Żak on the podium at the 23rd Economic Forum in Krynica-Zdrój (2013)

Zygmunt Solorz-Żak (born August 4, 1956 in Radom ) is a Polish entrepreneur. He was best known in Poland through the establishment of the private television station Polsat . The spectacular takeover of a wireless operator in 2011 attracted worldwide attention. Solorz-Żak has been one of the richest Poles for years.

Education and name

Zygmunt Solorz-Żak's maiden name was Piotr Krok. Later he also called himself Zygmunt Krok and Piotr Podgórski. He went through a technical college education. After his marriage to Ilona Solorz, he took the surname Solorz. After divorcing his first wife, he married Małgorzata Żak and added her family name to his. The entrepreneur has three children and lives in Warsaw .

Entrepreneur

After a long stay in Germany (including working for the Polish Catholic Mission in Munich) and marrying Ilona Solorz, whom he met in 1983, he founded the joint company Solorz Import-Export in the mid-1980s . This was active in the trade of electrical heaters and the import of Trabant and Wartburg vehicles from the GDR and Dacias from Romania .

Polsat

In 1992 Solorz-Żak entered the media business in Poland. As the first private television station in Poland, the Polsat station he founded was granted a license for terrestrial broadcasting in 1993 . TV Polsat has been one of the largest Polish television stations since the mid-1990s . In 1999 he also founded a digital television station - Cyfrowy Polsat . In 2010, the entrepreneur merged the two channels. Publicly traded Cyfrowy Polsat acquired Polsat TV for USD 1.3 billion, creating Poland's largest media company. The creation of the takeover conditions was criticized by investors, as Solorz-Żak was the majority shareholder in both companies.

Electrim

In 2004, the entrepreneur took over the Elektrim Group, a heavily indebted industrial conglomerate which, among other holdings, was also a partner in the mobile communications operator Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC). The subsequent sale of the Elektrim shares in the mobile operator to Vivendi led to legal disputes that lasted for years between the two companies and Deutsche Telekom, which is also involved in PTC . From the liquidation of the bankrupt company, Solorz received a power plant group and building plots in Warsaw, including the former port of Praga , which has been a building plot of the Port Praski real estate project since 2012 .

Polkomtel

The 2011 acquisition of Poland's second-largest mobile operator, Polkomtel (brand: Plus ), was the country's largest takeover to date. Solorz-Żak won against rivals such as the private equity firm Apax and the Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor with a bid of PLN 18.1 billion (EUR 4.51 billion).

In advance, the entrepreneur had repeatedly demanded that at least this telecommunications company should remain in Polish hands. The sellers were the Polish state-owned companies Weglokoks , KGHM , PKN Orlen and PGE as well as the British telecommunications group Vodafone . Vodafone, the most important seller with a 24.4 percent stake, declared after the conclusion of the contract that it had waived the right of veto in order to use the proceeds to pay off debts.

Because of the high purchase price, Solorz-Żak had to partially finance the takeover - unlike in previous transactions. In addition to its own capital, the majority is supported by a banking consortium led by the French Credit Agricole CIB and Deutsche Bank . Other banks involved are the Royal Bank of Scotland , PKO Bank Polski and Société Générale .

The purchase of the cell phone company is rated as strategically clever. The connection of a cellular telephone network with the existing structures of the company's digital television station represents a good basis for securing a high market share in the developing, lucrative market for complete offers.

Other activities and assets

Solorz-Żak is the majority shareholder in the PTE Polsat pension fund , the Polisa life insurance company and Invest Bank . From the Elektrim deal he received shares in one of the largest energy suppliers in Poland, Zespół Elektrowni Pątnów-Adamów-Konin SA . He is also involved in the insulin producer Bioton , the telecom company Sferia and the TV producer ATM Grupa .

Since April 8, 2009 Solorz-Żak is also the majority shareholder of the Śląsk Wrocław football club .

The entrepreneur has also been involved in the social sector for years. The Fundacja Polsat Foundation was established as early as 1996 , which has raised around PLN 165,000,000 in donations over the course of 15 years and distributed it primarily to renovate clinics and support families in need. In Germany, he was one of the most important donors of the year in 2008 with a 100 million euro donation for the establishment of a new research institute for stroke and dementia research at the University of Munich Hospital .

The entrepreneur's net worth was estimated at $ 2 billion by Forbes Magazine in 2010. This makes him one of the richest Poles and ranks 466th among the richest people in the world. The Polish magazine Wprost estimated Solorz-Żak's fortune at PLN 7.9 billion in 2011, making him the second richest Pole of the year.

Cooperation with the Polish secret service

In 2006 it became known that Solorz-Żak was an informal employee of the Polish secret service from 1983 to 1985 under the pseudonym "Zeg". On November 16, 2006, he admitted that he had entered into a cooperation agreement with Department I of the Ministry of the Interior of the then People's Republic of Poland . In the 1980s he was in possession of a consular passport.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b according to Information Emerging Leaders: Zygmunt Solorz-Zak, media entrepreneur and billionaire investor, Poland at Thomas White International on July 26, 2011 (in English, accessed on September 23, 2011)
  2. ↑ a b c according to The World's Billionaires: Nr 488 Zygmunt Solorz-Zak on Forbes.com on October 3, 2010 (in English, accessed on September 23, 2011)
  3. ↑ according to a press release Vivendi is awarded damages of 1.9 billion euros in its dispute against Elektrim ( Memento of February 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) at Vivendi's Internet presentation on February 23, 2009 (in English)
  4. ↑ a b according to Article media mogul grabs Polkomtel for 4.5 billion ( memento from July 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) from the business paper of July 1, 2011
  5. ↑ The country's No. 1 in 2011 is Orange ( TP France ), the current No. 3 PTC (Deutsche Telekom), according to [1]
  6. ↑ according to Solorz kupił piłkarski Śląsk Wrocław at Money.pl on April 8, 2009 (in Polish)
  7. ↑ according to Information on the Foundation's website ( Memento of October 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (in Polish, accessed on September 26, 2011)
  8. ↑ according to Article The Porsche family is catching up ( memento from July 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) in the Stuttgarter Zeitung from October 10, 2008
  9. ↑ according to # 2 Zygmunt Solorz-Żak on Wprost-Online (in Polish, accessed on September 26, 2011)
  10. ↑ according to Zygmunt Solorz - agent z przypadku at Rzeczpospolita.pl from November 21, 2006 (in Polish)
  11. ↑ according to a list in the report Poland analyzes (PDF; 295 kB) ( Memento from March 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), No. 1 from November 21, 2006 by the German Poland Institute ( German Society for Eastern European Studies eV ), p. 16 ( Timeline)
  12. ↑ according to Article Solorz: Byłem szantażowany przez SB ( Memento of April 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) of November 17, 2006 (in Polish)

See also

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Solorz-Żak, Zygmunt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish media and telecommunications entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH 4th August 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Radome