Warsaw, 21/03/2007

InfoData announces today that all its shares have been acquired by CRIF, international key player in the banking credit information sector and business information services .
Founded in 1990 as a Department of the National Chamber of Commerce, InfoData has been committed in meeting the steady growth demand of both domestic and foreign companies which need to check the reliability of commercial business partners.
InfoData has been offering added-value business information services, providing high quality data and freshly investigated credit reports on Polish and foreign companies.


Today an increasing number of local and international companies use InfoData’s credit reports during their routine credit management procedures in order to check business partners’ reliability and to prevent commercial risks. Through an extended network of correspondents, it is able to offer a worldwide service providing credit reports on over 2 million of Polish companies.
“We are keen on international partnerships and very confident to gather immediate benefit from this strategic operation, having the possibility to rely on CRIF’s expertise in the development and management of information and decision support systems as well as on  advanced technological resources. InfoData’s suite of services and solutions will take enormous advantage of such a new international integration and we will be able to better meet increasing needs and challenges of our market” – commented Zbigniew Szklarczyk of InfoData Sp. z o.o..
In the last few years CRIF has been expanding abroad, reinforcing its position mainly in Central & Eastern Europe. It is already present in the Czech Republic with CCB - Czech Credit Bureau (founded in 2001 in Prague) and in the Slovak Republic with SCB - Slovak Credit Bureau (founded in 2004 in Bratislava). Furthermore CRIF has recently acquired INFIN, which specializes in providing detailed information on Slovak companies and municipalities, in-depth processing and sector analyses on Slovak economic environment and a full scale data support service from training to tailored consultancy.
CRIF has also entered the Russian market where, together with the Association of National Banks (ARB) and some of the country's main banks, it has become founding member of the National Bureau of Credit Histories (NBCH). NBCH set up the local credit bureau to provide support to the credit risk management activities of Russian banks and financial institutions.
“We are very excited about entering the Polish market and we look forward to benefit from possible future synergies between CRIF and InfoData,  in order to enhance the offer of business information services within the country. This acquisition confirms CRIF’s intention to strengthen its position in the Eastern Europe region not only as provider of solutions for banking and financial sector, but also in the business information area.” – said Fabrizio Fraboni, CRIF’s International Division Director.
Thanks to CRIF currently breaking into the Polish market, Polish companies will also benefit from online access to credit reports on over 50 million public and private companies in 230 countries through SkyMinder (www.skyminder.com), CRIF’s portal specialized in worldwide business information.
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