News Parkiet

Insurance

TU Europa on sale

Polish investor Leszek Czarnecki plans to sell his 99.47 percent stake in TU Europa, a small, publicly traded mortgage loan and life insurance company, sources told PARKIET recently. Wrocław-based firm has a market capitalization of around 350 million zloty, but company is expected to sell at a small premium to its market value.

Mutual funds

Fund managers report stronger earnings

Fourteen of the twenty Polish mutual fund companies made money in the first six months of this year, the SEC said in a recent report. Their combined earnings totaled approximately 100 million zloty, up from less than 90 million zloty for all of 2004.

Pharmaceuticals

Walendziak to oversee expansion at Bioton

Former liberal politician Wiesław Walendziak, now a senior executive at Prokom Investment private equity group has been appointed to oversee international expansion of its subsidiary, publicly traded insulin manufacturer Bioton. ?It?s the right person in the right place?, Prokom spokesman Marek Zieleniewski said, praising Mr. Walendziak?s management and negotiating skills.

Airlines

SkyEurope to start trading on WSE next week

Shares of Slovak low-cost airline SkyEurope will start trading in Vienna and Warsaw next Tuesday, the company said yesterday after it secured regulatory clearance for the public listing from the Polish SEC. SkyEurope sold 78 million euros worth of new and existing shares at 6 euros each in a pan-European offering.

Packaging

Kęty sees flat 3Q earnings

Aluminum packaging maker Grupa Kęty said it expects third-quarter earnings of between 26 and 27 million zloty. Part of WIG20 blue-chip index of Poland?s twenty biggest stocks, Kęty reported third-quarter earnings of 26.3 million zloty last year. It said higher commodity prices reduced margins despite stronger demand from the building industry, one of Kęty?s main customers.

Utilities

Praterm makes another acquisition

District heating systems operator Praterm has completed another takeover, a 12-million zloty purchase of the 56 percent stake in PW Atex, the biggest heat generating plant in the southern Polish city of Zamość. It said Atex may build a biomass heat and power generating plant selling electricity to ZKE, a regional power utility.

Financial services

BDM turns into investment bank

Regional stockbroker Beskidzki Dom Maklerski has announced plans to boost its investment banking business, including private equity transactions and corporate finance services. It has already helped distribute shares of southern Polish steel plants to more than 70 000 workers of Mittal-Steel and has accumulated a small stake in PZU, a state-owned insurance group. BDM?s Lech Głogowski says his firm may launch a venture capital fund for smaller, privately held companies.