PZU is a creditor of PBG SA (“PBG”) and Hydrobudowa Polska SA (“Hydrobudowa”), both companies with registered offices in Wysogotowo near Poznań, on account of insurance guarantees (contractual guarantees) issued and paid out.
In 2012, bankruptcy proceedings were initiated against PBG and Hydrobudowa. On 21 September 2012, PZU joined the proceedings by notifying its claims to the bankruptcy estate of the two companies.
PBG and Hydrobudowa belong to the same group in which PBG is the parent company. The two companies provided sureties for each other’s liabilities. As a consequence, all claims submitted against the bankruptcy estate of Hydrobudowa in the amount of PLN 101 million were concurrently submitted against the bankruptcy estate of PBG.
PBG’s bankruptcy proceedings ended on 20 July 2016 with a final decision of the Bankruptcy Court.
The first list of claims presented by Hydrobudowa’s trustee in bankruptcy to the judge commissioner contained PZU SA’s claims in the amount of PLN 16 million and the fourth supplementary list of claims contained PZU SA’s claims in the amount of PLN 16 million. Accordingly, the total value of claims pursued by PZU on this account was PLN 32 million. In respect of claims for the amount of over PLN 66 million, on 24 October 2018 PZU filed an objection to the judge commissioner against the refusal to accept the submitted claim. With the decision of 23 January 2020 the Court accepted PZU’s objection and increased PZU’s claim on the fourth supplementary list of claims to PLN 83 million. On 8 September 2022, the trustee in bankruptcy requested a statement regarding the possible disposal of the reported claim and an indication of the amount of repayments to satisfy it. PZU provided the relevant statement. The final list of claims submitted against the bankruptcy estate of Hydrobudowa has not been determined yet. Bankruptcy proceedings against Hydrobudowa are pending and the determination of the final list of claims is merely an initial step in these proceedings that precedes the drafting of the distribution plan (after the liquidation of the bankruptcy estate).