Poland committed to chem sale despite ZAT debut

30 June 2008 13:51  [Source: ICIS news]

By Will Conroy

PRAGUE (ICIS news)--Poland remains committed to its revived chemical sector privatisation despite the initial negative reaction to the stock market debut of nitrogen fertiliser producer Zaklady Azotowe Tarnow (ZAT), Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad said on Monday.

Shares in ZAT dropped 11% to zlotys (Zl) 17.50 (€5.19/$8.19) from the IPO price of Zl19.50 when they became available on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

The ZAT IPO was the first move in the Polish government’s plan to privatise its holdings in all 19 chemical companies still under state control by 2011.

Warsaw would continue to move forward with its chemical company and other privatisations, Grad said.

"Investments in ZAT and other firms that the Ministry of the Treasury will place on the stock exchange are good medium-term investments," he added. 

The IPO in ZAT, also a producer of caprolactam, polyamides and copolymers, was the first listing of any Polish state-owned company since December 2006.

Analysts said both the IPO and stock market debut suffered from weak global stock exchange sentiment among institutional investors and from what was seen as a high issue price.

They noted that the IPO had effectively been rescued by two other Polish state companies, base chemicals producer Ciech and natural gas monopoly PGNiG, which bought a 6.5% stake and a 10.2% stake respectively.

($1 = €0.63/$1 = Zl2.14)

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By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

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