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Media

TVN seeks 533 million zloty in first Polish TV IPO

TVN SA, a Warsaw-based broadcaster, plans to raise as much as 533 million zloty in the first initial public offering of a Polish television station. The company plans to sell 15.9 million shares to money managers at 26.5 zloty to 33.5 zloty a share. The broadcaster's owner ITI Holdings will keep a majority stake in the company after the IPO, which may value TVN at about 1.97 billion zloty (an equivalent to 600 million dollars). The stock is slated to start trading in Warsaw on December 7. TVN operates seven channels including a 24-hours news service.

Leisure industry

Orbis to create chain of cheap hotels in Poland

Orbis, Poland's largest hotel chain and a unit of France's Accor, plans to open 20 one-star hotels in Poland starting next year, deputy Chief Executive Krzysztof Gerula said. Orbis may finance the investment with a bond sale or a loan, he added.

Pharmaceuticals

Ivax eager for acquisitions

US drug-maker Ivax Corporation, which seeks buyout of Polfa Kutno pharmaceutical company, expects its shares to start trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange by the end of December. Ivax already owns 25 percent of Polfa and has said it would bid for the rest. Ivax deputy CEO Rao Uppalari confirmed yesterday the company would offer the existing shareholders its own stock worth the equivalent of 340 zloty per each share of Kutno-based company. Uppalari expects the transaction to proceed in late December. Uppalari also said Ivax may seek more acquisitions in Poland. "It's too early to go into details," he added.

Postal services

Post Office wants to turn into equity company

As soon as this month state-owned Post Office (Poczta Polska) may file with the government the proposal to transform the monopoly, which currently operates as a public utility company, into an equity company. "Being an equity company speeds up procedures related to public orders," the Post Office managing director Tadeusz Bartkowiak said. He added the company may seek to raise capital through the stock exchange, as did postal companies in the Netherlands and Germany. "It seems to be a good way to find money for investments," Bartkowiak said.