Treasury Ministry to annul privatisation of PZU
The Treasury Ministry wants to annul last year's privatisation of Poland's largest insurance company Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen (PZU). Treasury Minister Andrzej Chronowski said the Dutch-based insurance consortium Eureko's real goal in purchasing 30% in PZU had been only to prevent the take-over of PZU by BIG Bank, not to develop the insurer. Eureko has categorically denied this charge several times in the past. The company said it would fight the treasury's actions and claimed that they were contrary to normal business practice. Eureko and BIG bought a 30% stake in PZU, which controls 60% of Poland's lucrative insurance market, for PLN 3bn (USD 653mn). Another 14% of the stock is owned by the company's employees, while the state still holds a 56% stake. Yesterday, the Treasury Ministry fired all of the members of PZU's supervisory board who were backed by Eureko. Minister Chronowski reassured Poland was a safe place to do business despite his attempts to wrest control of PZU from its foreign strategic investor, but the business community is shocked. It is certain that the affair will alarm foreign investors and that may have threaten Poland's reputation abroad. PZU's CEO Jerzy Zdrzalka said that it also means that the company's shares will not be floated on the stock exchange next year, which translates into a PLN 5bn (USD 1.1bn) loss for the Treasury.
Źródło:IntelliNews Daily
