Zygmunt Solorz vs. the children. The dispute over control of the billionaire's empire enters a decisive phase.

• The family dispute over control of a Polish billionaire's business empire is gaining momentum and entering a crucial phase. Neither side intends to back down.
• The Supreme Court of Liechtenstein will issue a final judgment in the coming weeks on who has the right to manage the assets of two family foundations.
• There are assets worth over 10 billion złoty at stake. The question remains whether Zygmunt Solorz and his wife, Justyna Kulka, or his children will prevail in this legal battle.

In the coming days and weeks, arrangements will be made that will be of paramount importance for resolving the dispute over who will gain full control over companies from the Cyfrowy Polsat Group, ZE PAK, Elektrim and almost 80 subsidiaries that were established to carry out special business tasks.

There are many indications that by the end of November the Supreme Court of the Principality of Liechtenstein will issue a final judgment on who has power in the two family foundations TiVi Foundation and Solkomtel: Zygmunt Solorz or his three children - Aleksandra Żak, Piotr Żak and Tobias Solorz.

On October 30, the general meeting of Cyfrowy Polsat will be held, and one of the items on the agenda is changes in the composition of the supervisory board, which will most likely mean the dismissal of Zygmunt Solorz and his wife Justyna Kulka.

If the changes take place, it will be a symbolic end to the entire process of removing the billionaire from the supervisory boards of all companies belonging to the business empire.

There is a lot of money at stake and the situation is currently perceived as a family war over assets exceeding PLN 10 billion.

Suffice it to say that the two most important entities listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, controlled directly and indirectly by foreign companies, investment funds and indirectly by foundations belonging to Zygmunt Solorz, have a capitalization of over PLN 10 billion.

And yet there are many other non-public assets, including Elektrim, Port Praski, Netia, Embud 2, Plus Infrastruktura, Polsat Media, etc., which generate significant cash flows, generate profits and distribute dividends.

Cyprus is one of the main destinations for supervisory control

In the case of the businesses run by Zygmunt Solorz, we always had to deal with a situation where the ownership capital was divided into many entities, and full supervisory control was deliberately transferred to foreign financial vehicles.

Initially, these were companies registered in Cyprus: Reddev, Stasalco, Karswell, and WBN. It was to this country that the company's dividends were transferred. It's worth noting that, in most cases, dividends paid in Cyprus are exempt from income tax.

To further optimize tax solutions, Zygmunt Solorz established two foundations in the Principality of Liechtenstein , to which he contributed shares in certain companies registered in Cyprus and other own assets, including rights to trademarks of his companies, royalties, etc.

The TiVi Foundation and Solkomtel foundations were founded approximately 10 years ago and were initially based at 9490 Vaduz Kirchstrasse 12. They are currently registered in Ruggell under number FL-002.394.367.5.

Why this particular direction? The tax law states: "When determining the tax residence of individuals in Liechtenstein, their citizenship, and in particular the period of time they resided in the territory of the Principality during a given fiscal year, is not taken into account."

Another important point is that income from foundation investments, as well as received receivables, interest and other liabilities, including copyrights and license rights, are exempt from personal income tax.

Foundations, if so provided in their statutes, may also pay dividends to their founders or persons or entities designated by them, of course without having to pay tax.

Father vs. Children, or the Dispute Over the Business Empire of a Polish Billionaire

And so, in a nutshell, we have reached August 2, 2024, when something happened that shook the entire empire of Zygmunt Solorz.

It is this date that appears on the documents signed in the presence of a notary, which contain a provision on transferring control of the assets to the children through two foundations registered in Liechtenstein.

The documents were submitted to the court in the capital of the principality of Vaduz, and the very next day a letter was received from Zygmunt Solorz's lawyers demanding that the signatures be deemed invalid.

After a few days, the court issued a preliminary comment on the case and in a statement issued "it did not find any ill will on the part of the children and found that the signatures were submitted correctly and that no one had been misled."

A non-final judgment of the Vaduz District Court was issued on October 26, 2024, appointing a lawyer from the principality as a trustee for both foundations. This meant that the founder of the foundation could no longer make independent decisions.

The court suspended Solorz's right to appoint the governing bodies of these foundations and prohibited him from issuing instructions to them or approving resolutions, under pain of their invalidity.

It was the curator from the duchy, in consultation with Zygmunt Solorz's representative, Tomasz Szeląg, and Katarzyna Tomczak, who was involved with the children, who was to make the decisions.

This judgment showed that Polish courts have no legal basis to participate in this family dispute over property management.

However, certain powers remained with the Cypriot court, where the subsidiaries are registered. Therefore, Solorz's legal representatives petitioned the local judges to block changes made to the companies' supervisory boards at the instigation of the billionaire's children.

This verdict was issued on August 14, 2025, and at that time the father gained a tactical advantage by dismissing his sons from the supervisory boards of almost all companies.

However, the introduced ban on changes was only in force for two weeks and had practically no significant impact on the course of events.

The lack of a final judgment means that it is still unknown who legally controls the foundations that exercise power over Cypriot holding companies that hold blocks of shares and stakes in Polish entities.

It's no secret that major domestic and international law firms are involved in the family dispute over the billion-dollar Solorz-Żak estate. As Paweł Maruta, attorney for Tobias Solorz and managing partner at Rymarz Zdort Maruta, said in a press interview: "This is the saddest case I've ever handled."

Aleksandra Żak and Piotr Żak are represented by the global British law firm Clifford Chance LLP, present in Poland since 1992, which currently employs over 90 lawyers, including 9 partners, in its Warsaw office.

However, there are also other outstanding representatives of the bar specializing in public company law, capital markets, foundation activities, and especially family foundations, in the game for billions.

Additionally, experts from Austria, Switzerland and especially Liechtenstein, which is the only legal jurisdiction to resolve this dispute, are preparing their advice and expert opinions .

When questions about costs are asked, everyone shrugs off the costs, but we are talking about tens of millions, both in Swiss francs and euros.

How Zygmunt Solorz Became One of the Richest People in Poland

It is worth presenting at this point a concise compendium of knowledge about what the dispute is about and how one of the largest Polish fortunes was created.

In 2024, Zygmunt Solorz's fortune was estimated at PLN 8 billion , which placed him among the top ten richest Poles.

Here are a few excerpts from the turbulent life of Zygmunt Solorz. Born Zygmunt Józef Krok in Radom in 1956, he eventually moved to Germany and began his business adventure. There he met his first wife, Ilona Solorz, and adopted her surname.

The first idea to raise money was to import used Trabants and Wartburgs with Volkswagen engines to Poland at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s.

In 1991, he divorced and returned to Poland to establish Telewizja Polsat, which began broadcasting terrestrially in 1993. In 1994, Polsat received a nationwide broadcasting license from the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT), and in May of that year, a satellite signal was broadcast from the Netherlands.

Another important milestone was the launch of Polsat 2 Cyfrowy in 1999, followed by its public offering and listing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2008. Its current valuation is approximately PLN 8.75 billion.

Few people today remember that Polkomtel was founded in 1995 by 10 entities, eight of which represented Polish capital. These included KGHM, Petrochemia Płock (now Orlen), PSE, Węglokoks, and Stalexport. Foreign industry players included the Danish TeleDanmark Corp. and the British Vodafone. In 2007, Professor Adam Glapiński became the company's president.

In 2010, Zygmunt Solorz submitted a takeover bid for Polkomtel and spent the following months seeking funding for this massive transaction. He established financial cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and ultimately, in 2011, the Cypriot company Spartan Capital Holding, in which the subject of our article held a 100% stake, completed the largest acquisition in Europe. Its value exceeded PLN 18.1 billion.

In 2013, the company was acquired by Cyfrowy Polsat, and from that point on, its results were consolidated within the Group, which was later joined by Netia. The acquisition of the Interia Group was a natural complement to the development of the multimedia group.

A preliminary agreement with Bauer Media Group was signed in 2020, and after obtaining the required approval from the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, the transaction was finalized. The purchase price was PLN 422 million.

ZE PAK has also come under the umbrella of the capital group. Mining lignite and generating heat and energy from it is the polar opposite of new technologies, but everyone emphasizes that Zygmunt Solorz has an unparalleled, strategic sense of capitalizing on anything.

Over time, the company also went public in 2012. Mining operations were gradually phased out, and wind farms were built in place of the spoil heaps, providing a new impetus for the development of another business line: renewable energy sources.

There was also an episode related to a joint project with PGE to build a nuclear power plant based on the technology of the Korean company Korean Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP).

In mid-October, a share sale transaction took place and the state-owned energy company purchased 50 percent of the shares in this nuclear project .

In 2019, Cyfrowy Polsat acquired a 21.68% stake in Asseco Poland for PLN 1.17 billion. It's difficult to assess the true intentions behind this transaction, as the stake was sold earlier this year. Officially, the funds raised were used to partially repay Cyfrowy Polsat's debt.

Last year, Zygmunt Solorz, using the Embud2 financial vehicle, purchased shares in Modivo for approximately PLN 500 million. Rafał Brzoska also carried out a similar transaction. Earlier this year, he sold his shares and withdrew the cash .

While building its broadcasting infrastructure, Polkomtel erected nearly 7,000 towers for mobile telephony in Poland. In February 2021, the Spanish company Cellnex Telecom acquired 99.99% of Polkomtel Infrastruktura's shares for PLN 7.07 billion. This was one of the largest transactions in the telecommunications industry completed by Zygmunt Solorz.

Shareholders of the companies are also waiting for the situation to develop.

Zygmunt Solorz and his third wife, Justyna Kulka, are among the wealthiest people in Poland. The Liechtenstein court's decision won't change that.

However, paradoxically, this decision regarding who exercises formal control over foundations and capital companies will influence development strategies and decisions about the future of the business empire.

This is also of interest to minority shareholders who are waiting for decisions regarding company development, dividend policy and investments in new projects.