District Court in Pozna?, Poland grants injunction against Mariusz ?witalski'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 ?witalski and companies he controls, has secured another court injunction. The new measure was granted by the District Court in Pozna? against the children of Mariusz ?witalski: Mateusz, Marcin, Miko?aj and Natasza. The injunction concerns certain of their assets, namely investment certificates in the fund ?witalski FIZ, which Mariusz ?witalski recently and covertly transferred to his children to the detriment of the creditor, Forteam.

"Mariusz ?witalski knows that he would eventually be compelled by law to pay millions of dollars pursuant to a guarantee issued to Forteam Investments when Ma?pka was sold to Forteam by Czerwona Torebka, a company ?witalski 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 ?witalski 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 Pozna? issued an injunction in favor of Forteam against Mariusz ?witalski 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 ?witalski 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 Ma?pka, the owner of the Ma?pka Express chain. Forteam eventually sold its 16.18% stake in Czerwona Torebka. The parties to that transaction were aware of Ma?pka's challenging situation and thus acknowledged in the agreement that additional considerable financing would be needed in order for Ma?pka to remain afloat.

Accordingly, Mariusz ?witalski 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 ?witalski 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 Ma?pka 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 ?witalski of its obligation to remit the monies owed to Forteam pursuant to the guarantee agreement. Notwithstanding, ?witalski 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