Fitch cuts rating of Polish debt firm GetBack after shares crash

Quercus Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych SA

20/04/2018 10:44

By Marcin Goettig
    WARSAW, April 20 (Reuters) - Rating agency Fitch downgraded
Polish debt collector GetBack by two notches late on Thursday
adding to worries about the company's outstanding $520 million
(1.77 bln zlotys) debt after its shares lost nearly 90 percent
of their value since October.
    Investors' concerns about the firm, controlled by private
equity fund Abris, have dragging down shares of investment fund
Quercus TFI that used to hold GetBack's bonds.
    Polish Parkiet daily estimated on Friday that up to 30,000
Polish retail investors might have exposure to GetBack's bonds. 
    Fitch cut GetBack's rating to B- from B+ saying the
downgrade reflected uncertainty about GetBack's access to
funding. It said the rating "could be downgraded further given
uncertainties with respect to its current liquidity position."
    GetBack Chief Executive Konrad Kakolewski was dismissed on
Monday after the firm had said it was in talks to secure
financing from Poland's largest bank and a state fund, although
both institutions denied this.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1RT0YU  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN1RT035
    In response, trading in GetBack's shares and bonds has been
suspended since Monday at the request of Polish financial market
regulator KNF.
    GetBack officials were not immediately available for
comment.
    Polish investment fund Quercus TFI  QRS.WA  said on Thursday
that GetBack missed a 5.5 million zloty ($1.63 million) payment
on its bond. Quercus shares were still down 30 percent this
month, even though the fund said it had sold all bonds and
shares in GetBack it had owned.
    GetBack debuted on the Warsaw stock exchange in July last
year, with Abris selling part of its shares and retaining a 60
percent stake. GetBack's balance sheet nearly doubled to 3 
billion zlotys ($900 million) in the first nine months of 2017.
       
    ($1 = 3.3884 zlotys)

 (Reporting by Marcin Goettig
Editing by Edmund Blair)
 ((marcin.goettig@thomsonreuters.com; +48226539720; Reuters
Messaging: marcin.goettig.reuters.com@thomsonreuters.net))