News Parkiet

Privatization

PKO BP stock sale won't hurt other CEE

markets, analysts say

Upcoming privatization IPO of PKO BP, Poland's largest bank, won't affect other regional markets in Central and Eastern Europe, equity analysts from Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic told PARKIET yesterday. In fact, most say the offering, the largest Polish privatization deal in years, could end up raising the region's profile, attracting new international investors. 'Investors will have to rebalance their portfolios because of PKO BP, that's for sure. However, since we are expecting new capital inflows into the region, negative impact on our market will be very small', Czech stockbroker Tomas Gatek says.

Mining

Poland unveils new plan to help Kompania Węglowa

State-owned coal mine holding Kompania Węglowa could receive shares of several metallurgical coke plants in lieu of small stakes in various firms listed on the WSE, senior Polish government official said yesterday. Deputy Economy Minister Jacek Piechota said the government is considering the transfer to help Kompania Węglowa pay back its massive debts. Last year KW received 900-million zloty stake in Telekomunikacja Polska phone company despite complaints from some investors, who feared the overhang would depress its stock price.

Building materials

Nowa Gala to build new production plant

Ceramika Nowa Gala SA ceramic tile maker has secured the financing it needs to build new production plant in Starachowice special economic zone in south-eastern Poland. Bank BPH gave Ceramika's subsidiary, CNG II, an 18.9-million zloty loan to complete 30-million zloty plant. Starachowice tile factory will increase Ceramika's annual output from 2.7 to 4.7 million square meters.

Ceramika, which went public this June, upheld its forecast of 9.9 million zloty profit for all of 2004. Sales are set to rise to PLN 86 million.

Health services

Swissmed misses IPO target

Poland's first private hospital to go public barely made it with its IPO, selling just 1.53 million shares out of the 3.5 million stock offering. The company, which owns and operates a private hospital in Gdańsk, raised just 4.3 million zloty minus IPO costs. Swissmed said initially it plans to raise as much as 19 million zloty to refinance and expand its operations. Swissmed CEO Roman Walasiński blamed the upcoming privatization sale of PKO BP, Poland's biggest bank on poor IPO results. The company will go back to the market with a secondary offering once it shows its business model is viable, Walasiński said.

Swissmed reported sales of just 3.3 million zloty for the six months to July. Its first half loss totaled PLN 2.65 million.

Venture capital

Capital Partners CEO sells stock

Chief executive of Capital Partners, a publicly traded investment boutique that assists in IPOs and makes investments on its own account, sold 0.97 million zloty worth of stock to raise money for other investments on the WSE. Paweł Bala sold 114.000 shares of the Warsaw-based firm at 8.5 zloty per share to an unnamed buyer, reducing his stake by about 5 percent. He still controls almost 55 percent of CP's stock.

Mr. Bala said he would buy back the stock within three months. In the meantime, he said he would use the money to buy a small stake in another company.

Privatization

Poland cuts the size of PKO BP privatization

Polish government has decided to reduce proposed allotments of shares in PKO BP in a special incentive plan for retail investors to prevent stock market speculators from buying most of the 720-million zloty offering. Treasury Ministry said earlier it would offer discounts and bonus stock to retail investors who buy up to 50.000 zloty worth of PKO BP in an IPO scheduled next month. The limit was reduced to PLN 20.000 after media reports that wealthy individual investors are planning to buy PKO BP shares through friends and family members. Orders for PKO BP will be accepted starting October 4. The IPO closes in early November. Separately, Treasury Minister Jacek Socha also said the bank, which has about 18 percent of the market, won't be listed on any other exchange in addition to WSE. The government wants to sell 30 percent of PKO BP in an IPO worth an estimated 5 to 6 billion zloty ($1.4 - 1.7 billion).

Information Technology

Betacom sales lower

Sales of Betacom e-learning group fell 19 percent to just 3.9 million zloty last month, the company reported in a statement to the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

CEO Mirosław Załęski, himself a major shareholder, says he isn't worried about annual financial targets despite weaker summer sales because Betacom revenues since April 1st are up 47 percent.

Betacom went public at 28 zloty per share in February. It is now trading at 19.95 zloty.