Polish Business Survey
Daewoo-FSO hopes to bounce back
In the first four months of this year Daewoo s market share fell to 21 percent from 28 percent at the end of last December. The company hopes that through consolidation it will be able to regain its lost market share.
At the end of January Jin Chul Suka was replaced by Choon Sik Yoo as managing director as part of its strategy of change. Yoo is now MD of both the Warsaw and Lublin based companies.
According to Mirosława Osipa of Daewoo-FSO Motor, Autoparts no longer imports and distributes spares for Daewoo cars. This is now being done directly by Daewoo-FSO. Furthermore the number of dealers has also been reduced from 200 at the end of 1998 to 175 a year later and this year it will be down to 150.
During the last four years Daewoo-FSO has invested USD700m in development. It offers eleven different types of car and a twelfth will be available at the end of 2000, the Tacuma mini-van. Production this year will be over 200,000 units of which 30,000 will be exported. The biggest clients in the EU are Italy and Greece whilst in Central Europe Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Estonia and Slovakia are the best markets. This year Daewoo-FSO also hopes to break into new markets such as China and Austria.
Investors examine finance portal
Erada, the owner of a finance portal, claims that it is negotiating with nine investors concerning the purchase of a new share series. The company could raise PLN6.75m - PLN13.5m in this way.
At the moment representatives of Erada do not want to reveal the names of those potential investors. Michał Lasocki, MD of Erada has only confirmed that they are venture capital companies, foreign Internet finance portal investors and telecommunications companies. He believes that the current value of the company is several million dollars and the in the near future will be many times more.
The company expects a potential investor to put in USD1.5m - USD3m in working capital. Current capital value of Erada is PLN1.1m. Its founder was Erada Ireland who have a 55 percent stake in the firm. Board members from the financial sector include Andrzej Olechowski of Bank Handlowy, Antoni Rakowski of Central Europe Trust Polska and current MD Michał Lasocki who used to work for Bankers Trust and Citibank.
Polpharma sale draws to a close
The privatisation of PolandŐs largest pharmaceutical producer, Polpharma, is drawing to a close. A consortium of Polish investors which includes Jerzy Starak of Spectra Management, Ryszard Krauze of Prokom and Jan Kulczyk of TUiR Warta has bought 80 percent of the company which is based in Stargard Gdański. The treasury has the remaining twenty percent. Polpharma was sold for PLN343m which would place the value of the company at around USD100m.
It would appear that majority shareholder, Jerzy Starak, has long term plans that include a stock market entry and becoming a regional power. To this end it has already made moves to acquire the Lithuanian Norfachemia. In Poland representatives of Prokom are currently negotiating with the treasury over the privatisation of the Polfa Tarchomiń company in Warsaw.
KPB plans closed share issue
This year the Krosno based KPB is planning a closed issue of series C shares. It hopes to raise between PLN1m - PLN3m in this way. Part of this cash will be used to buy land for development near and in Warsaw and Kraków. KPB has already built near Krosno although the opinion of MD, Stanisław Materniak, is that this is not as profitable as in the larger cities.
Elektrim and Optimus in share swap deal
Representatives of Elektrim and Optimus met at the end of last week to decided on the fate of the latter company which is the largest domestic computer supplier. Elektrim may obtain a slice of Optimus in a non financial transaction which would involve a swap of shares with BRE bank and Multico. The only thing left to decide is how many shares are to be exchanged.
New insurer to enter market
This month the Finance Ministry is likely to grant permission for the foundation of a new life insurance company Concordia Capital. It will be made up of Concordia Versicherungsgruppe who will have a 93 percent share and GBW bank with a seven percent stake. At the same time the investors will increase their share in the Poznań based insurer TUWW.
Last ferry leaves its flag behind
Yesterday the Stena Europe, belonging to Stena Line Polska, changed its flag from that of Poland to the Bahamas. Stena Europe was the last ferry flying the Polish flag. Both Euroafrica and PŻB switched flags for a cheaper one which enabled them to reduce crewing costs and improve competivity.