News Parkiet

Equity markets

IPO market rebounding

Shares of Ceramika Nowa Gala ceramic tile maker rose 18 percent to 5.9 zloty on their first day of trading on the WSE, signaling renewed interest in Polish IPO market. Ceramika raised about 35 million zloty in an IPO that was nine times oversubscribed. Proceeds from this year?s twelfth IPO will be used to build a new production plant, Ceramika said in its filing documents.

Polish Securities and Exchanges could authorize as many as nine IPOs at its next session on July 13. The SEC refused to allow new issues at its latest meeting, citing numerous loopholes in IPO documents.

Insurance

PZU won?t reverse charges for former

Daewoo unit

Poland?s largest insurance group, state-controlled PZU SA has decided not to reverse special, 48-million zloty charge in the event of a bankruptcy of PTU, former insurance unit of South Korea?s Daewoo conglomerate. PTU?s stock issue that would give the company much-needed cash injection has been delayed by a shareholder dispute.

Pension funds

Government ?not worried? about IKE success

Polish Ministry of Social Policy says IKE Individual Retirement Accounts will be more successful than the failed corporate pension fund scheme proposed earlier.

IKE accounts, which provide tax-sheltered retirement savings of up to 3500 zloty per year will be launched in September. So far, only two mutual fund companies filed for SEC approval to start selling IKE-related investment products.

Telecommunications

Polkomtel sale scheduled in the fall

Polish shareholders of Polkomtel SA say the final decision on the sale of Poland?s smallest mobile phone company will be made in the fall of this year. PSE power grid operator together with PKN Orlen oil refinery and KGHM copper mine own a combined 60 percent of Polkomtel, with Vodafone and TeleDenmark holding the remaining 40 percent. Later in July, the group will pick an investment bank to handle the sale. The Economist Intelligence Unit says Polkomtel stake held by Polish shareholders is worth an estimated 2 billion dollars.

Information Technology

Lumena preps for IPO in 2005

Warsaw hardware distributor Lumena SA is planning a 10-million zloty Initial Public Offering in the first half of 2005. Lumena, which has annual sales of about 100 million zloty, with 1 percent net margins, says it is waiting for registration as a joint-stock company before proceeding with the IPO. management-owned firm is now a limited liability company. Only joint-stock companies may list their shares on the WSE because of Polish stock market regulations.

In addition to reselling Hewlett-Packard hardware, Lumena owns a small software house in St. Petersburg, Russia. Its subsidiary reported sales of approximately 1 million US dollars last year.

Publishing

Poligrafia sees profits after two bad years

Kielce-based Poligrafia SA magazine printing plant expects profits of 9.8 million zloty this year after two years of straight losses because of foreign exchange costs. Poligrafia also says its sales could rise 6.4 percent to a record 215 million zloty ($58 million) thanks in part to a 5 percent increase of the Polish magazine publishing market.

Last year Poligrafia, which is controlled by ING?s The Baring Central European Fund posted a loss of 1.8 million zloty before it converted euro-denominated debt into zlotys.

Outsourcing

Impel buys security company

from Kredyt Bank

Publicly traded cleaning and security company Impel SA has agreed to buy a banking security firm previously owned by Kredyt Bank for an undisclosed amount. BDH Serwis, Impel?s most recent acquisition is one of Poland?s largest banking security companies, with ten regional branches. Impel will continue to work for Kredyt Bank after signing a large outsourcing contract. Sources close to the transaction say t

Telecommunications

MPEC to receive US grant for Internet

expansion

United States Trade Development Agency has agreed to give a 430.000 dollar grant to regional heating company MPEC Wrocław from southern Poland to pay for the expansion of its broadband infrastructure.

MPEC has already invested several million zlotys to build a citywide broadband access network.