Wojciech Kruk, the founder of W.Kruk jewelry company, is waiting for the decision on how the shares of W.Kruk and Vistula&Wolczanka (V&W) will be exchanged.
“In my opinion, the 2:1 ratio is harmful to Kruk. Every year, we used to pay a growing dividend, increase net income by 30 percent and opene over 10 new shops. V&W did not offer such perspectives”, Wojciech Kruk said.
He dreams of 10:1 ratio but he knows it’s impossible. That’s why he estimates that he will get three V&W shares for every W.Kruk share.
“I want to defend Kruk’s identity. I don’t mind that the company is within V&W structure because the merger makes sense. Before, I couldn’t get used to the hostile takeover. I didn’t like the style of V&W ex-CEO”, Wojciech Kruk said.
The former CEO was replaced by Michal Wojcik.
After a tender call had been announced in May by V&W to buy W.Kruk’s shares, Wojciech Kruk assured he would not sell his stake. Then, he changed his mind and sold majority of his shares for PLN 90m (EUR 27.8m).
“I knew the stock price would fall and I didn’t want to lose the assets of the whole family. I was afraid that my assets would drop from PLN 140m to PLN 50m”, Wojciech Kruk said.
He sold his shares at PLN 24 and later on bought 500,000 shares at PLN 14. He bought over 5 percent stake of V&W shares in order to control his company. Meanwhile it turned out that Jerzy Mazgaj, the CEO of Alma retailer and the founder of Paradise Group clothes company, also bought V&W shares (6 percent). He became the chairman of the group.
Jerzy Mazgaj plans to merge V&W and W.Kruk with his firms and found a group of luxury brands. After the merger of V&W and W.Kruk, Wojciech Kruk will have 15 percent of the clothes group.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.309)