News Parkiet

Equity market

Market activity

lower after pope?s death

Trading on the Warsaw bourse and on the financial markets ground to a halt yesterday as investors took the time off to mourn the death of pope John Paul II. The WSE said the exchange would close on Friday for the pope?s funeral. Meanwhile, publicly traded companies scrambled to call off their press conferences and other events, while Telekomunikacja Polska?s trade unions said they wouldn?t go on strike today as promised earlier.

Petrochemicals

Diesel tax hike doesn?t apply to all

New diesel tax hike leaves out a major loophole because it doesn?t include certain types of heavy diesel oil, which can also be used in regular vehicles, industry sources told PARKIET this Monday. Polish Finance Ministry said it is raising excise tax on diesel oil by 223 zloty to 1028 zloty per ton in order to reduce tax fraud.

Private equity

Advent launches new regional fund

Private equity investment fund Advent International said it has raised 330 million euros to invest in Central European companies. The fund will focus on media, telecommunications, health care, construction materials, financial services and retail industries.

Publishing

AIG, Pioneer push

for board changes at WSiP

Two new institutional investors with large stakes in Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne, a Warsaw-based textbook publisher that went public in a privatization IPO last October asked the company to call a special meeting that would replace some of the existing board members. AIG group, including AIG PTE, a company that manages large private pension fund and Pioneer Pekao Investment Management, a mutual fund company own 10.2 percent and 6.6 percent of WSiP respectively. WSiP said it would call the meeting as soon as possible.

Previously owned by the government, WSiP has six board members.