News Parkiet

Equity markets

WSE to ask government

for rapid privatization

Warsaw Stock Exchange needs to be privatized soon, to make sure it has the time to find a place in one of panEuropean stock market alliances, chairman of the board Jacek Bartkiewicz told PARKIET in an interview yesterday.

Bartkiewicz, who doubles as chief executive of the government-owned Bank Gospodarki Żywnościowej believes that the WSE has to find a market niche to remain viable.

Equity markets

M&A activity finally picks up

Merger and acquisition activity in Poland rose 67 percent in the first six months of this year, but the number of deals actually fell by a third, KPMG Polska said in a report published yesterday. Overall, the transaction value of Polish M&As increased to 1.9 billion dollars, with cross-border investments accounting for 34 percent of the total. The number of M&A transactions declined to 82 from 121 in January to June last year.

Real estate accounted for almost half of all M&A deals thanks to Rida Development Corporation?s 840-million dollar acquisition of Polish shopping centers used by German retailing giant Metro AG.

Other notable transactions included Netia?s takeover of competing local phone company RST El-Net for an estimated 218 million dollars and the acquisition of NFI Hetman privatization fund by Eastbridge group, a Dutch retailer with extensive operations in Poland. Eastbridge listed several of its subsidiaries in Poland and in the Czech Republic in a reverse takeover of NFI Hetman. The deal was worth 180 million dollars, KPMG Polska reported.

Privatization funds

Ballinger?s NFI funds

to cash in on Vectra

Three Polish privatization funds are considering their exit options for Vectra SA, one of the country?s largest cable TV operators. Fund.1, NFI Victoria and NFI Fortuna invested approximately 75 million zloty, accumulating a 20 percent stake in Vectra over the last four years.

Two of the three funds have just sold a large stake in Inter Cars, an auto parts distributor in an IPO on Warsaw Stock Exchange for a total of 80 million zloty ($21 million) prompting speculations about the possible listing of Vectra, Poland?s third largest cable company.

?I?m not confirming or denying anything?, says Jerzy Maślankiewicz, vice CEO of Ballinger Capital, a private equity fund that controls the NFIs.

Insurance

Nationwide group?s Polish unit to double life premiums

Nationwide Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń na Życie life insurer is expecting premiums of at least 270 million zloty in the first six months of this year, CEO Michał Biedzki said yesterday. A subsidiary of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, which paid 147 million zloty to start operations in Poland, Nationwide TUnŻ says it will turn profitable sometime in 2007.

The firm sells tax-exempt annuities through Citibank and independent brokers.

Media

Broker FM

reduces IPO amount

Broker FM radio station operator has decided to reduce the number of shares sold in an IPO later this month because of lackluster demand from investors.

Krakow-based firm, which owns RMF FM pop radio station has set its IPO price at 83 zloty per share, at the bottom of its proposed initial public offering range of 83 to 98 zloty.

Broker FM originally said it would try to sell as many as 1.79 million shares, but decided to reduce the number to just 1.25 million after tallying preliminary orders. If the IPO is successful, Broker FM will raise an estimated 103 million zloty. Proceeds will be used to pay down outstanding debts.

Broker FM?s managers blamed weaker than expected demand for their stock on negative reports by a competing radio group, which questioned its targets and plans to diversify radio operations.

Marketing

Juice-makers? ad spending higher

Makers of non-alcoholic juice and other beverages spent an estimated 99 million zloty on advertising in the five months to June, matching ad spending by Polish breweries for the first time ever, Expert Monitor market research group reported yesterday.

The figures do not include rebates and discounts given to key advertisers.

Polish market for fruit juice and similar products is growing at about 10 percent a year, Expert Monitor said.