NGC 7217 is an unbarred early-type spiral galaxy having a multi-segment exponential light profile and a system of starforming rings of the unknown origin ; it also possesses a circumnuclear gaseous polar disc .
We analysed new long slit spectroscopic data for NGC 7217 and derived the radial distributions of its stellar population parameters and stellar and gaseous kinematics up to the radius of r \approx 100 \hbox { $ { } ^ { \prime \prime } $ } ( \sim 8 kpc ) .
We performed the dynamical analysis of the galaxy by recovering its velocity ellipsoid at different radii , and estimated the scaleheights of its two exponential discs .
The inner exponential stellar disc of NGC 7217 appears to be thin and harbours intermediate age stars ( t _ { SSP } \approx 5 Gyr ) .
The outer stellar disc seen between the radii of 4 and 7 kpc is very thick ( z _ { 0 } = 1 \dots 3 kpc ) , metal-poor , [ Fe/H ] < -0.4 dex , and has predominantly young stars , t _ { SSP } = 2 Gyr .
The remnants of minor mergers of gas-rich satellites with an early-type giant disc galaxy available in the GalMer database well resemble different structural components of NGC 7217 , suggesting two minor merger events in the past responsible for the formation of the inner polar gaseous disc and large outer starforming ring .
Another possibility to form the outer ring is the re-accretion of the tidal streams created by the first minor merger .