News Parkiet

Equity markets

Investors borrow PLN 20 billion for PKO BP

Retail investors could borrow as much as 20 billion zloty ($5.9 billion) to buy shares of PKO BP when it goes public later this month. Local investors have until Wednesday to apply for margin loans to participate in the biggest IPO in recent years.

Banking

Getin plans another stock sale

Getin Holding financial group is planning another secondary offering sometime next year to pay for the acquisition of Bank Przemysłowy, a regional lender from Łódź operating under bankruptcy administration, its founder and key shareholder told PARKIET in an interview recently. Getin decided to buy Przemysłowy despite its negative equity and bad loan portfolio, because it still has 1.2 billion zloty in customer deposits, IT system that is similar to the one already used by Getin Bank and a regional network of 27 branches and 40 000 clients in central Poland, Czarnecki said.

Pharmaceuticals

Ivax to publish Polish IPO prospectus

Miami-based Ivax Corporation is set to make a bid for all outstanding shares of Polish drug-maker Polfa Kutno it doesn?t already own sometime in mid-November, sources told PARKIET on Monday. US pharmaceutical company will publish its Polish IPO prospectus next week. Ivax said it would offer 340 zloty per each share of Polfa, valuing the company at around 640 million zloty ($190 million).

Telecommunications

Szeptel to buy MNI?s assets from shareholder

Directors of Szeptel SA, a small, publicly traded local phone company, vote to approve a plan to buy the assets of Media Net Interactive, its main shareholder for up to 5.5 million shares priced at 1 zloty each, versus yesterday?s closing price of PLN 4.00. The deal would give Szeptel, which has 17.2 million shares outstanding, access to new markets, including 0.700 party lines, multimedia and telemarketing services run by MNI.

Manufacturing

Apator sees stronger earnings in 2005

Apator SA, a manufacturer of metering equipment for mining industry and local utility companies, plans to buy minority stakes in two subsidiaries that are still partly-owned by the Polish government. The Treasury Ministry has 25 percent of FAP Pafal, which makes metering equipment for industrial users.

Toruń-based company is expecting at least 30 million zloty in earnings next year compared with PLN 30 to 32 million. This year?s figures include a one-time, 7.6 million zloty gain on the sale of commercial property to Euro Mall, a real estate developer. Sales are supposed to be ?much higher than this year?s?, sources close to the situation told PARKIET recently. Apator said officially it estimates 2004 revenues at PLN 185 to 195 million.

Information Technology

Comp Rzeszów could double sales

on acquisitions, CEO says

Next year?s revenues of Comp Rzeszów, a mid-sized software house specializing in IT projects for cooperative banking industry could more than double after the planned takeovers of two other companies, chief executive Adam Góral said yesterday. Comp Rzeszów, which went public last month in a heavily oversubscribed IPO, has already agreed to buy a stake in Slovakia?s Asset Soft and Epsilio, a smaller, local competitor.

Shares of Comp Rzeszów closed at their lowest since the IPO yesterday, reflecting concerns of some investors that the company could overpay for Epsilio, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Softbank SA, a major shareholder of Comp.