Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – The Ministry of the Treasure (MSP) may decide to convey shares worth over PLN 100m (EUR 25.5m) to the employees of Ruch, the Polish press distributor.
MSP said several days ago that it wanted to inject some capital into Kompania Weglowa (KW), the coal group. The state plans to convey a 9.9 percent stake of Ruch’s shares.
“We are going to discuss this project with the Ministry of the Treasure this or next week. Then the official statement will be presented”, the press officer of the Ministry of Economy said.
The Ministry of Economy is responsible for KW.
It looks like the idea has not been thoroughly thought over. If a stake of Ruch is conveyed to another state-owned enterprises, the process of conveying 15 percent of shares to the employees is automatically launched.
“The shares will be conveyed to them for free according to the present law”, Pawel Kozyra, MSP spokesman said.
The employees may get either the shares or equivalent may be paid out by the company. The amount of the equivalent is not specified in the law. According to “PB” estimates the transaction may cost the press distributor PLN 130m-180m. The state would then no longer be the majority shareholder in Ruch as its stake would fall to 48 percent.
The management of Ruch refuses to comment. The company was listed at the end of last year. It raised PLN 250m. The funds were supposed to be spent for investment in the company whose market share keeps falling.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.255)
