News Parkiet

Petrochemicals

Orlen hits new high

High oil prices sparked a buying frenzy for oil stocks listed on the Warsaw bourse this Friday, with investors focusing on shares of Poland?s no. 1 oil refinery PKN Orlen. Shares of Płock, central Poland-based Orlen closed at 60.9 zloty, up 3 percent from Thursday?s close, marking a new all-time high since the company went public in late 1990?s. Investors buying shares of PKN Orlen ignored claims by Czech chemical group Agrofert, which is demanding 77-million euro in compensation in a dispute over the takeover of Czech Republic?s Unipetrol. Later that afternoon Orlen said it has made a bid for a 51 percent stake in Turkish oil refinery Tupras along with a local partner.

Financial services

Best may sell new shares

Publicly traded debt collection agency Best SA says it is considering a new equity increase to raise financing for a new securitization fund set up together with TFI Copernicus Capital fund management firm.

The fund is supposed to buy bad debt portfolios from major Polish banks, a rapidly growing market niche, chief executive Krzysztof Borusowski says.

Venture capital

eCard to go public in 2006

Polish venture capital firm Capital Partners plans to buy a controlling stake in online clearing house eCard, taking the company public in the second quarter of next year. Capital Partners, whose shares are already listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, said it would retain a small stake in eCard worth approximately 3 million zloty if the project succeeds.

Founded five years ago by major banks and IT companies, eCard may reach break-even point later this year and has no plans to sell new stock to the public, Capital Partners said.

Information technology

Prokom buys Lithuanian IT firm

Poland?s Prokom Software announced Friday it would pay 3.5 million zloty for the 50-percent stake in UAB Informaciniu projektu sistemos. Vilnus-based UAB Ips sells backoffice systems for the insurance industry.