News Parkiet

Information Technology

Softbank to buy stakes in four IT companies

Polish IT services provider Softbank SA plans to buy stakes in four other computer companies using the proceeds from a secondary offering planned later this year. Potential takeover targets include Incenti data center and Koma IT group, now owned by Softbank parent Prokom Software, as well as 7.5 percent stake in Comp Rzeszów software house and an unnamed IT firm controlled by Pekao bank.

Banking

Societe Generale buys Poland?s Eurobank

France?s Societe Generale said yesterday it has agreed to buy Polish lender Eurobank, a mid-sized bank with over 300.000 clients and some 1.3 billion zloty in customer deposits. The French bank wouldn?t say how much it paid for Wrocław-based Eurobank, set up less than two years ago by Polish businessman Mariusz Łukasiewicz, who died last year.

Societe Generale already has corporate banking and leasing units in Poland.

The French bank says it has already accepted Eurobank?s expansion strategy, including plans to open almost

50 new branches this year in addition to the 119 branches it already has.

Telecommunications

ATM to expand using EU grants

Fiber optic data carrier ATM SA from Warsaw said it will received European Union subsidies totaling 2.5 million zloty to pay for the expansion of its network in the Polish capital and in the southern industrial region of Silesia. The EU has agreed to refund almost a third of the money ATM spent to upgrade its network, CFO Tadeusz Czichon said.

Separately ATM said it has built the highest Wi-Fi hot-spot in Poland on Kasprowy Wierch in the Tatra mountains, almost 2000 meters above sea level.

Information Technology

MacroSoft priced at 22.2 zloty

Shares of MacroSoft software house fell 2.1 percent to close at 23.2 zloty yesterday after the company has announced the pricing of its secondary offering of 170.000 shares. The company said that new stock would be offered at 22.2 zloty, near the bottom of previously announced pricing range of 22 to 26 zloty. Warsaw-based MacroSoft now has about 1.7 million shares outstanding. Its market value based on Monday?s closing is just

39 million zloty.

The economy

Polish economy slowed in the first quarter, GUS says

Recent economic data shows that Poland?s GNP growth rate fell in the first quarter compared with 3.9 percent increase recorded in fourth quarter of last year, a senior official at the Main Office of Statistics (GUS) said at a conference yesterday. Retail sales in March slowed 0.3 percent year-on-year, GUS said, citing weak consumer demand and slower auto sales. Halina Dmochowska, GUS vice-president, says she expects GNP growth to pick up again later this year.