PPF Group spins off Home Credit businesses from Ceska pojistovna
Prague, 08/07/2006
PPF Group ("PPF" or the "Group") is delighted to announce that it has successfully concluded a spin-off of the Home Credit businesses from Ceska pojistovna into Home Credit Grand Holding a.s. (HCGH) - a newly established holding company for the Home Credit Group domiciled in the Czech Republic - by obtaining all necessary regulatory approvals and registering HCGH in the Czech Companies Register. The effective accounting date for the spin-off has been set as the 1st January 2006.The spin-off is a part of the restructuring process of the PPF Group. The rationale for this restructuring is to create two separate and accountable business lines - one operating in insurance and the other in consumer finance. As a result, all PPF's insurance businesses are now centralized in Ceska pojistovna group and all PPF's consumer finance businesses are indirectly owned by HCGH - the Home Credit Group holding company. Both companies are 100%-owned subsidiaries of PPF Group N.V.
The restructuring will (i) maximize the efficiency of the PPF Group N.V. as a holding company, enabling it to optimize its capital allocation within the Group; (ii) ultimately provide a more efficient and flexible structure for managing international expansion in insurance and consumer finance related activities; and (iii) further increase the transparency of the Group and the individual business lines for the benefit of regulators, rating agencies and other stakeholders.
A flat management structure will ultimately be formed and will be grouped according to the two business lines. PPF believes this will create greater management accountability and easier consolidation for accounting and financial management purposes. The restructuring will grant each separate business line - or individual companies within each business line - easier access with more favourable conditions to external financing in the international financing markets.
By executing the spin-off transaction, PPF Group N.V. will be better positioned to support the development of both the insurance and consumer finance lines of its business.
Notes for editors
PPF Group
PPF Group is a leading diversified financial group in the Czech Republic and CEE region with managed assets exceeding USD 10 billion as of year-end 2005. The group consists of Ceska pojistovna (Moody's Baa3, S&P BBB), the largest insurance company in the Czech Republic, Penzijni fond CP, Home Credit Group, PPF banka, and companies specializing in complex asset management services. PPF is active in Central and Eastern Europe, and Central and South-East Asia.
Spin-off
Spin-off is a method to divide a company which had been recently adopted into Czech legislation. It provides a way to separate a part of the original company's assets, capital and liabilities into a new company, while the legal existence of the original company continues without interruption. Both the original and new companies guarantee each other liabilities: the original company up to the amount of liabilities spun off, the new company up to the amount of its capital.
PPF group announced its intention to spin off the Home Credit group on 19th April 2006.
www.ppf.cz
www.cpoj.cz
www.homecredit.net
For further information contact
Dita Fuchsova
Senior Communication Manager & Spokeswoman
PPF a.s.
Tel: (+420) 224 559 033
Mobile: (+420) 602 110 082
E-mail: fuchsova@ppf.cz
Tomas Cerny
Head of Capital Markets
Home Credit Group
Tel: (+420) 224 559 174
E-mail: tomas.cerny@homecredit.eu
08/07/2006
