Polish Business Survey
Elektrim acquires internet companies
Telecommunications and power giant Elektrim has spent USD1.5m in buying a 60 percent share of Creative Team, a company specialising in linking GSM providers with the internet. Elektrim is showing a lot of interest in the development of the web, on 3 April it bought an 85 percent stake in Nask-Service for PLN10m. Furthermore Elektrim has also a 85.8 percent share in Inter Net Polska C, which is building telecommunications infrastructure.
Kostrzyn to issue new paper
Kostrzyn Paper, the second largest Polish paper producer and a subsidiary of the Swedish Trebruk will increase its share capital by PLN62.8m by a share issue. This will increase the share capital of the company, situated on the German border about 100km from Berlin, to PLN234.4m. The new shares will be acquired by the EBRD.
Even fewer sunbeds this year!
C&N Touristic, the second largest tour operator is hoping to buy the Thomson Travel Group from the UK for USD2bn. In Poland this will effect Neckermann owned by C&N and PolandŐs largest operator Scan Holiday which is owned by the British. Scan Holiday has been in Poland since 1995 and is expected to be in profit in 2002. Neckermann entered Poland two years ago and last year had 40,000 clients. This year it is expecting even more.
Dangerous goods to be outlawed
A new bill is proposing that damages caused by dangerous products should be paid by the manufacturers or importers. Currently the law states that the State is responsible, there is a list of dangerous products and services which must have a safety certificate, although this list as been kept as small as possible. At present manufacturers simply have to make a declaration that their goods are safe. If the bill becomes law the onus will be on the manufacturer to prove that his product was safe at the time of delivery.