Polish Ministry of Treasury tours to raise investor interest in privatization

The Polish Ministry of Treasury announced it would launch a promotional campaign in Poland’s four largest cities in order to attract investors willing to participate in the privatization of state-owned enterprises, Polish economic daily Puls Biznesu reported June 6, 2012.

“The idea has been successful before,” said Tomasz Lenkiewicz, vice-secretary of state in the Ministry, referring to a very similar tour the Ministry once organized in China and the USA. “We have decided to leave our offices and prepare a portfolio of the companies we will be presenting to potential investors. We want to show the full potential of the companies, still majority-owned by the state, which produce good-quality products and are placed in attractive locations.”

“We are also keen on obtaining more information on the market, directly from investors,” Lenkiewicz further stated. “We want to know what they expect of privatization. We are ready to adjust to investors? expectations and to approach this matter with more flexibility, of course within the frames of legislation in force.”

State officials will meet with investors in Lodz (June 6), Katowice (June 14), Wroclaw (June 20) and Krakow (June 28). The entrepreneurs were previously selected by local authorities, local associations and the Polish PKO Bank Polski, co-organizer of the event.

In the first phase of the project, a group of 80-100 potential investors were selected to participate in the meetings. Only companies with the necessary capital, with future investment plans and social responsibility were selected. In the next phase, those willing to proceed with acquisitions will meet in the bank’s headquarters in Warsaw.

During the meetings, state officials will fill investors in on the details of privatization proceedings.

“The most frequent reason of an ineffective privatization proceeding is prolonging negotiations due to lack of financing,” Lenkiewicz explained. “Investors frequently have no concept of our deadlines and procedures. For example, their financing ends in one month, while the legislation stipulates the termination of the negotiations in the next month.

“Most often when one of the bidders is granted negotiation priority the remaining players resign,” he added. “This is a mistake because they also have a chance to negotiate if the first investor resigns.”

The State Treasury intends to organize similar privatization tours in the future, if the project contributes to raising investor interest.