Jan Kulczyk

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Jan Kulczyk, born June 24, 1950, in Bydgoszcz, is a prominent Polish businessman. According to the Wprost newspaper, his fortune is estimated at PLN 12.5 billion (approximately USD$ 4 billion). In 2006 ranked 756 among The World Richest People by Forbes with an estimated net worth of US$1 billion, disappeared from Forbes ranking in 2007 and 2008.

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[edit] Education

Kulczyk is a law graduate of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań as well as a graduate of foreign trade at the University of Economics in Poznań. He holds a Ph.D. in international law. His business activities are a continuation of a family business tradition into the third generation.

[edit] Possessions

His father set up three companies after WW2, all of which were taken over by the communist state. In 1981, Kulczyk formed Interkulpol, one of the first companies with foreign capital in Poland. In 1988 he established the Kulczyk Tradex company, which was the only official dealer of Volkswagen and Audi in Poland. The company's "big deal", which made Kulczyk one of the richest people in Poland, was a contract which sold more than 1000 vehicles to the Polish Police in 1992. The contract was given to Kulczyk Tradex without formal public tender, which was investigated later by the public prosecutors office.

In 1993 another company established by Kulczyk, Euro Agro Centrum, bought from the Polish government 51% of the Browary Wielkopolskie SA, one of the largest brewery companies in Poland. In 1995 South African Breweries acquired controlling stake in Kulczyk's brewery assets. Reportedly Kulczyk continues to hold minority stake in the business, now top two in Poland with over 30% market share, alongside SABMiller.

Material assets of Kulczyk Holding S.A., investment vehicle set up by Kulczyk in 1991 include minority stake in toll-road concesionary Autostrada Wielkopolska S.A. In the last 10 years Kulczyk held sizeable stakes in number of companies including PTC Era mobile operator (disposed to Elektrim), TPSA Polish incumbent telecom (acquired alongside France Telecom in privatisation deal and later sold to France Telecom), national oil refining and marketing PKN Orlen, Warta insurance (gradually sold to KBC) and PTE Dom pension fund (disposed to KBC).

[edit] Investigation

Jan Kulczyk is to be questioned by the parliamentary commission in the context of the PKN Orlen investigation (fall 2004). He missed the call to show up at the commission proceedings formally due to undergoing medical treatment in the US and then in London. The investigation commission proved that Jan Kulczyk had a secret meeting with Wladimir Alganov, a former KGB resident in Poland, on September 2004 in Vienna. Wladimir Alganov is actually a top ranking manager of Russia's Lukoil company. In a written statement Jan Kulczyk announced that he would like to be questioned abroad, as he feared for his safety in Poland. He expressed regret that politics makes it hard to do business in Poland, and that members of the commission engage in personal intimidation. In particular, he singled out Roman Giertych as a commission member who places "politics above the truth and the law". However, later relented and decided to come back to Poland, to be questioned by the commission. His involvement with the KGB agents may be exlpaind by the fact that the beginnings of his business activities are rooted in the period of communist rule in Poland. In this system all independent private entrepreneurial activities were severely limited by the state and allowed only in a very restrictive area of small business. As his first company was set up in 1981 - 8 years before the formal collapse of communist regime in Poland - it is unquestionable that it must have been controlled by the then state secret servieces.

[edit] External links

  • http://news.ft.com/cms/s/7f8c16aa-31f4-11d9-97c0-00000e2511c8.html - "Populist politicians are damaging the investment climate with their outbursts," Mr Kulczyk told the Financial Times. He said further that the attacks frightened Polish business people and scared off foreign investors, including multinational companies. This was really the lowest point in FT history. Many in Poland and overseas cancelled their subscriptions right away as there were concrete accusations of corruption and treason against Kulczyk, and FT became a forum for his defence. The Financial Times subscriptions decreased substantially in Poland after that publication, and is now practically nonexistent.

He is currently linked to be chairman at Southampton FC.