PLN 12.3bn in privatisation revenues in H1

2010-09-06

Proceeds from privatisation amounted to PLN 12.3bn (approx. €3.1bn) in the first half of the year, according to an interim report published by the Ministry of the Treasury. This figure represents roughly 49% of the yearly target, which is PLN 25bn (€6.2bn).
The Treasury has completed a total 212 privatisation transactions in H1. The biggest were for the sale of 10% of the shares in the copper producer KGHM (for PLN 2.06bn, or €515m), a 16.05% stake in the power group Enea (for PLN 1.13bn, or €283m), and a 46.7% block in the mining company Bogdanka (PLN 1.12bn, €280m).
The ambitious yearly target is central to the government’s objective of keeping the public debt below 55% of GDP in the coming years in the face of growing fiscal pressure caused by the crisis. It envisages several hundred share sales, including initial public offerings of PZU, the country’s number one insurer, the energy group Tauron (both already completed), or GPW, the operator of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. There are also plans to seek industry buyers for several large chemical, energy and mining companies as well as sell residual stakes (i.e. holdings below 10%) in 77 companies (28 completed in H1).
The revenues raised in the first half of 2010 were almost twice the sum generated in 2009 as a whole. Last year gross revenues from privatisation totalled PLN 6.97bn (€1.6bn).