CEDC si j'ai bien compris

Central Europe

16:01 GMT, Jul 06, 2005 Latest Headlines...


Update: Sobieski offers over PLN 1 bln for 61% of Polish distillerPolmos Bialystok
Warsaw. July 6. INTERFAX-EUROPE - France-based Belvedere-daughter
Sobieski Dystrybucja is offering over PLN 1 bln for a 61% stake in
Polish vodka maker Polmos Bialystok and is willing to up this offer. The
company is also prepared to offer employees better social packages,
Sobieski Dystrybucja CEO Krzysztof Trylinski told a press conference
Wednesday.
"We want to continue negotiations with the State Treasury and we
are ready to increase our recent offer," Trylkinski said.
Trylkinski stated that on July 1 Sobieski offered the Treasury PLN
1 bln for the 61% Bialystok stake. The sale to a strategic investor
should help bolster Bialystok shares after their poor performance
following a recent initial public offering (IPO). Sobieski, which lost
its exclusive negotiating rights to America's CEDC in the face of union
protest, also promised better social conditions. The company, which has
a 53% share of the Polish market, also says that it expects talks with
the Treasury to continue and that it has sufficient funds available for
the purchase. In a comment later Wednesday the Treasury said that it
sees no reason to continue talks with Sobieski.
The PLN 1 bln Sobieski offered the Treasury on July 1 corresponds
to a price per share of over PLN 135, far above the market rate of PLN
80.00 at 15:00 CET on Wednesday.
Sobieski also made a gesture to employees by offering them 15-20
years of guaranteed employment, bettering their July 1 offer of
guaranteed employment for ten years.
"We want to build a world vodka center here so we can offer fifteen
or even twenty years of guaranteed employment. We have long-term plans
for this company," Trylkinski said.
The higher Sobieski offer comes after the Treasury recently said
that it had effectively concluded talks with CEDC, which means the
Americans should sign a final deal on the Bialystock purchase shortly.
Sobieski is now claiming that its exclusive negotiating rights are
still valid. The company's exclusive negotiating rights expired in mid-
June due to a lack of settlement on price and after strong protest by
company employees. Sobieski is now claiming that the Treasury never
negotiated on price and that therefore the company's exclusive rights
are still valid. It expects to continue talks with the Treasury.
However, the Treasury said later on Wednesday that it is preparing
an agreement with CEDC.
"The Treasury Minister has selected investors for Polmos Bialystok.
The Ministry considers the process of exclusive rights to have been
completed effectively and is now preparing the technical details of the
deal with the investor [CEDC]. There is no basis to claims that there
were any irregularities in the procedure and no reason not to sign a
deal with the investor that has won the tender," deputy Treasury
Minister Dariusz Witkowski said.
Witkowski said that the Treasury will reveal all of the details
concerning the deal with CEDC after the Treasury signs it, which it
expects to do in the next few days.
Sobieski revealed that it would finance the eventual purchase with
EUR 70 mln from an issue of Belvedere shares in France, a PLN 270 mln
loan from BRE bank and that the remainder would be provided by Belvedere
minority shareholder C L Financial.
Polmos Bialystok is one of Poland's leading spirits makers and in
2004 took some 21% of the market, according to the firm's own
calculations. It exports some 5-8% of production, measured in the value
of sales.

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mareva