Local Hero

Zuzanna Wiak, 'Eurobuild CEE': Most people associate your name with the first portal in Poland - Wirtualna Polska. However, this is all in the past...

Maciej Grabski, the investor behind the Olivia Business Centre project in Gdańsk: When I sold Wirtualna Polska in 2004, I thought it would be worthwhile to help young entrepreneurs., so I set up Business Angel Seedfund, which invests in new technologies.

Your first successes?
We have three or four very interesting companies. One of them was joined by one of the biggest private equity funds in Poland. We are working hard on the others to make this happen, and our plans are ambitious.

And who helped you to start your first business?
I received a great deal of help from my father. I borrowed money for my first business from him at the beginning of the 1990s.

Was it a large amount?
For me it was astronomical - several thousand Deutsch-marks. My dad was an entrepreneur himself, so apart from the cash I also received business support from him. Later, however, money came from the banks that I went to see in the early 1990s. Like most entrepreneurs at that time I kept hearing "please show us some collateral for the loan." And I didn't have any, of course. Finally, I received a big trade loan from a German exporter.

But that money was not for the internet business?
No it was not. I used the funds to export and import car parts. Honestly speaking, when I look at that business now and at a few other companies that started up at the same time, they have been enormously successful. We have a distributor of car parts which is worth PLN 1.5 bln on the Polish stock exchange; the company now invests on the German market. However, I chose a different path. I invested in the internet business.

Where did the idea come from?
Honestly? At university I once wrote a paper on factoring. That was when a friend of mine sat me down in front of a computer and showed me what the internet was. I was shocked to find out that in the US it was possible to use factoring services 24 hours a day via the internet. That was when I decided to invest in the net. My first idea was to create a platform that would link Italian and German car parts factories to distributors in Poland. I started looking for a company that could create such a portal. And finally I came across Gdańsk-based Centrum Nowych Technologii, which was able develop the software for it. However, this never materialised as at the time we were focusing all our energy on creating WP.

What made you take an interest in real estate? After all, you were not connected with the industry before?
I was and I was not. I am from Gdańsk and take my obligations towards the city and the local community very seriously. Besides, it is also a very interesting business.

Are you a local patriot?
It is easy to say "I'm a local patriot," but much harder to be one. My great-grandfather was a member of the Polish community of pre-war Gdańsk who invested in properties in the city. He owned the most attractive hotel in the city - the Hotel Continental [according to historical sources it was the only first class Polish hotel in Gdańsk, offering 90 rooms - editor's note]. Unfortunately, the hotel was destroyed during the war. My great-grandfather also owned some plots on the harbour.

So it was your great-grandfather who led you into real estate?
No, it was my dad who encouraged me to do something in the city. For me properties are not only reinforced concrete, air conditioning and leasing contracts. It is a broader topic, which concerns the promotion of the whole of the TriCity. It involves cooperation with the local university and the city authorities. Nowadays my work is not only developing office buildings. We, together with other developers, have managed to establish a fund to promote the region. The city council, the companies Torus and Allcon as well as various HR companies have all got involved.

Still, the story of the Olivia Business Centre project and the cooperation with the city authorities was not so rosy at the beginning. Did you not feel like giving up on the project at times?
There were such moments of course. In December 2008 we signed an agreement with the city to build over 200 apartments for families that were being evicted to make way for the development of the stadium for the Euro 2012 European football championships. We completed the contract within nine months. In the meantime the tax regulations had changed and the city started to have doubts about whether they could give us a plot in exchange for the apartments we had built. The case took a few months. However, what is most important for me is that now, with this behind us, we can concentrate on higher goals. Instead of filing lawsuits it is better to contribute towards the creation of new jobs and provide homes for those who are waiting for them.

They say that if you want to lose money then invest in real estate...
It is so not true! I started the development of the Olivia Business Centre complex without any experience. In 2008 I bought an office building on ul. Biała in Gdańsk. The seller was very happy to get rid of it, as the building required a full refurbishment. Now it is fully leased.

What about your plans for the future?
The OBC project is to continue for a few years. We have finished one office building, Olivia Gate with an 18,000 sqm useable area of, and we have already gone beyond the base stage for the Olivia Point and Olivia Tower buildings, which will have 9,000 sqm and 15,000 sqm respectively. It seems to me that in the long run Gdańsk has a great demographic advantage: in many studies carried out in Poland young people choose the TriCity as their dream place to live.

Real estate or new technology?
They are both interesting. Nevertheless, someone who has never built anything does not realise what a wonderful feeling it is. When I arrived at Christmas at a residential block I'd developed, I had a great sense of satisfaction looking at the families whose homes I'd built sitting around their Christmas trees.

Have you built a house for yourself?
No, I have not - but I live in a house built by an excellent Gdańsk-based developer. ?

Maciej Grabski
was born in 1968 and studied law and economics. He is one of the founders of Wirtualna Polska, one of the first Polish internet portals. Among the investors in the venture was Intel Capital Corp. Inc. After selling his stake in Wirtualna Polska, he invested in a number of enterprises and is currently investing in three areas which he considers to be profitable:
Innovations. In 2007 he established the Business Angel Seedfund investment fund. A number of companies were set up as part of the fund, such as: AZO Digital, which produces energy efficient street light management systems that reduce electricity consumption from 25 to 50 pct; Polymem, which makes polypropylene microfiltration membranes for gases and liquids; SiGarden, which designs and builds particularly robust electronic equipment; Screen Network - a company that offers a unique network of advertising media available in over 4,000 locations throughout Poland.
Specialist private equity. These transactions are very rare, but one of them, the takeover of Pekabex of Poznań, proves that the strategy is well-grounded and feasible. Pekabex is involved in the design, production, transport and assembly of precast reinforced concrete elements and pre-stressed elements.
Real estate. Apart from the Olivia Business Centre project, Maciej Grabski runs the TPS Otwarta Przestrzeń project, which is managed by TPS and acquires office and warehouse buildings as well as land (including on: ul. Biała and pl. Wałowy in Gdańsk, ul. Krzywoustego in Gdynia and ul. Fordońska in Bydgoszcz). The properties undergo comprehensive refurbishment and are adjusted to tenants' needs, leased and managed.