The Consortium, which includes Grupa Azoty, was established on November 26th 2014 at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (KUL).

As part of the Consortium project, businessmen and scholars from KUL will conduct and commercialise research on raising security levels of Polish businesses. The members will be predominantly state-owned enterprises, as they are the ones most exposed to the risk of hostile takeover.

“Grupa Azoty is a company of strategic importance to Poland. As such, we want to approach both scholars and experts with hands-on economic experience to learn about the precautions we can take against takovers. The cooperation between business, the state and the academia is a chance to strengthen Poland’s position on the international arena. Our goals are ambitious, but achievable,” said Andrzej Skolimowski, Vice-President of the Grupa Azoty Management Board.

The work on the Consortium was initiated by the ADR Law and Economy Research Centre Foundation.“The recent changes in research financing mechanisms make cooperation between business and academic centres a necessity,” explained Marek Dąbrowski, President of the ADR Law and Economy Research Centre. “Our aim is to run joint projects which take advantage of our findings, using them for the benefit of Polish companies,” Mr Dąbrowski concluded.

The consortium agreement was signed by Grupa Azoty, Baker & McKenzie Krzyżowski i wspólnicy Spółka Komandytowa, Kredyt Inkaso S.A., PGE Dystrybucja S.A., Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo S.A., Polski Koncern Naftowy Orlen S.A., Port Lotniczy Lublin S.A., Union Investment TFI S.A., ADR Research Centre Law and Economy and the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin.