News Parkiet

Equity markets

Most privatization IPOs are profitable, survey shows

Four out of five of the dozens of privatization Initial Public Offerings on the Warsaw bourse over the last ten years turned profitable, returning an average of 22.1 percent on the first day of trading, a survey by PARKIET shows. By contrast, private companies that went public over the same period posted average first-day gains of 24.3 percent, but almost 40 percent closed below their IPO price on their market debut.

Energy

POGC goes public

Natural gas supplier Polish Oil and Gas Company (POGC) cleared one of the last hurdles before its IPO when Polish stock market regulator registered the offering yesterday. POGC, also known by its Polish name PGNiG said earlier it plans to raise as much as 1.5 billion zloty selling 900 million shares raising money for debt repayment and expansion of its extraction and storage capacity. The government is now the sole owner of POGC.

Petrochemicals

Orlen closes Unipetrol acquisition

PKN Orlen refinery said it has paid as much as 1.56 billion zloty ($545 million) in cash and PLN 235 million in assumed debt for a controlling stake in Czech Republic?s national oil company Unipetrol yesterday, closing a deal first announced in June 2004. Płock, Central Poland-based company also said it may buy 67 gasoline stations in the Czech Republic from BP, adding to Unipetrol?s own 330 outlets there.

Separately Orlen executives said the company will go ahead with a plan to trim 327 jobs at the company?s regional distribution units. The move, which was criticized by Orlen trade unions, will bring an estimated annual savings of PLN 27 million, the company said.

Telecommunications

Aster City to spend PLN 65 million on upgrades

Warsaw cable TV operator Aster City Cable said yesterday it plans to spend as much as 65 million zloty ($19.7 million) on expansion, including digital television and new triple-play services. Aster City, which has about 280.000 cable customers, reported revenues of about 240 million zloty last year. Operating income totaled PLN 21 million