The Management Board of Orzeł Biały S.A. (“The Company”, The Issuer) announces that on 26.03.2018 it received a notification from the Receiver of bankruptcy estate of Orzeł Surowce Sp. z o.o. that, pursuant to the decision of 26 March, 2018, the District Court for Katowice-Wschód in Katowice, 10th Commercial Division, announced the bankruptcy of Orzeł Surowce sp. o.o. with its registered office in Bytom (a subsidiary of the Issuer), after hearing the case at a closed sitting, the application of creditors Paweł Sidor running a business under the name of Eco Consulting Paweł Sidor with its registered office in Warsaw and Cook & Marshall Investments Polska Spółka z o.o. based in Poznań. The decision is effective and enforceable from the date of its issue.
The Issuer informed about the ongoing proceedings in its interim reports, i.e. for the first half of 2017 dated 19.09.2017 and for the third quarter of 2017 dated 15.11.2017.
In the Issuer’s view, the decision of the Katowice-Wschód District Court in Katowice, 10th Commercial Division, on the declaration of bankruptcy of Orzeł Surowce sp. z o.o. is unfounded as Orzeł Surowce sp. o.o. pays its due cash obligations on an ongoing basis and there is no risk of losing the ability to perform such obligations. The applicants did not demonstrate any premises for the bankruptcy of Orzeł Surowce and their actions are meant to harass the Orzeł Biały Group.
In the course of the entire proceedings – according to the knowledge of the Issuer – Orzeł Surowce sp. z o.o. argued that not only does it have the potential to and regulates its payment obligations on an ongoing basis, but also that the payments which formed the basis for the applications for its bankruptcy were entirely disputable.
Orzeł Surowce sp. o.o. will promptly submit a complaint against the said decision and file a request to suspend the liquidation until the complaint is considered by the Regional Court.
Orzeł Surowce sp. o.o., in which the Issuer holds 100% of shares, has been in Orzeł Biały Group since 2009. The company mainly deals with the purchasing arrangements for basic raw materials and inputs for lead production. The company does purchase and sale of scrap metal from used lead-acid batteries and provides services for Orzeł Biały S.A. in the area of materials and goods supplies.
The Issuer, as of today, except for the unfavourable image of the situation and the potential consequences that may be associated with it, does not anticipate that the bankruptcy declaration of the subsidiary Orzeł Surowce could have a significant negative impact on the Issuer’s operations.
In its organizational set-up, the Issuer has an organisational unit in charge of purchasing and necessary human resources to directly carry out the functions of raw materials purchasing. However, the Issuer cannot guarantee that in the course of further processing this situation will not have a significant impact on the Issuer’s operations in the future.
The company will keep you informed about further important activities in the above-mentioned subject in accordance with applicable regulations.
Legal basis: Art. 17, Act 1 MAR
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