BDO merger in Poland Press Release - Warsaw, 16 June 2008

BDO Numerica S.A., the BDO Member Firm in Poland, has today acquired Grant Thornton Sp. z o.o., the Polish member firm of Grant Thornton, and will merge it into an accounting practice with 350 professionals and a combined fee income of €20 million.

The combined firm will continue to be known as BDO Numerica S.A. and managed by the three founding Partners Kristof Zorde, Andre Helin and Andrzej Kinast. These three have each gained extensive international experience and have been instrumental in effecting the economic changes in Poland right from the start. Both firms have been present on the Polish market since the beginning of the transformation, having been set up by the current owners.

The principal aim of the merger is to strengthen the merged firm’s leading position as advisers to owner-managed mid-corporate businesses in Poland, offering a full range of services including audit, due diligence, tax advisory, financial outsourcing, corporate finance and IPO services. At the same time the merged firm will use its expertise in order to fulfil the market demand for greater choice by challenging the big four firms that currently serve clients that value a personal approach to service.

Frans Samyn, CEO of BDO International, said ‘The combined firm will certainly benefit the local market, while from an international standpoint, the partnership cannot do other than to improve international clients’ experience of BDO, through cross-border collaboration and effective knowledge management internally’. BDO and Grant Thornton are Member Firms of the fifth and sixth largest global networks of audit firms respectively.

The BDO Member Firm has established an impressive portfolio of Polish-owned companies and is currently the auditor of the most companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The firm has developed a highly successful accounting, tax and commercial training operation and is also active on the IPO market, having been instrumental in more than 80 IPO’s. It is recognised as a specialist in the construction, financial, real estate development, retail and manufacturing sectors.

Grant Thornton in Poland specialises in servicing international investors and in the last 16 years has helped clients invest more than €1 billion in the Polish economy. The firm has built up specialist knowledge in property investment and development, professional services firms, web-based services and manufacturing, amongst other areas, and currently assists clients in managing more than €4 billion of assets.

Kristof Zorde, one of BDO Numerica’s founding Partners, said ‘The merger of the two firms is characterised by synergies and will place the combined firm in a pre-eminent position on the Polish market, providing a wide range of services to foreign investors investing in Poland, as well as Polish-owned businesses expanding operations overseas’.

Note to editors:
BDO International is a world wide network of public accounting firms, called BDO Member Firms, serving international clients. Each BDO Member Firm is an independent legal entity in its own country. The combined total fee income of all BDO Member Firms was US$ 4.704 billion in 2007. The global network has 626 offices in 110 countries, and 31,500 partners and staff in the Member Firms provide business advisory services throughout the world.

For further information please contact:
BDO Numerica S.A. ul. Postepu 12, 02-676 Warsaw, Poland
Tel: (+48 22) 543.16.00; Fax: (+48 22) 543.16.01
email: kristof.zorde@bdo.pl
BDO Global Coordination Office Brussels, Belgium
Tel: (+32 2) 778 0130; Fax: (+32 2) 778 0143
e-mail: bdoglobal@bdoglobal.com