Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – Budryk mine, located near Gliwice, west-southern Poland, a company belonging to the state, has had its debts reduced by PLN 630 million (EUR 152.8 million). ‘This is a relief’, Piotr Czajkowski, Budryk CEO said. The court case to reach agreement with the mine’s creditors had been going on since 1998. The company’s debts amounted to PLN 1 billion then. Creditors agreed to reduce debts by 70 percent, but even this was too much for Budryk. ‘In April 2004, we signed an agreement concerning restructuring the company. The Finance Ministry, which had been paying instalments from the debts, agreed to change PLN 267 million of debts into shares. We are now registering a capital increase in the court’, the CEO explained. The remaining PLN 108 million of debts to the Treasury Ministry, have been paid in 50 percent.
Budryk, without debts and with PLN 43 million of net income this year, according to forecasts, may become an acquisition target. The programme of mining industry privatisation envisages that Budryk will be joined with GPW or Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa. Also LNM steel concern, the owner of Ispat Polska Stal was interested in the mine as well as the Czech RPG Industrie group, which bought the Czech Karbon Invest. 2.4 thousand people work in Budryk, which this year will produce 3.4 million tonnes of coal.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.242)
Poland/Enterprises/Metals and mining