Poland looks to Mideast for chems investment

06 November 2008 17:33  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS news)--Poland’s government is offering Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds the chance to take management control of the country’s chemical companies if they invest in their privatisation, it said on Thursday.

 

Minister of the Treasury Aleksander Grad is in the middle of a three-day tour of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar in a bid to attract capital for privatisations that might suffer from a lack of western investor interest because of the credit crunch.

 

In a statement on the visit, the treasury ministry’s investor relations department, said: “Poland is going full-steam ahead with its privatisation process despite the global financial crisis … Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are among those potential investors who would be very welcome to make full investments.”

 

Following a meeting with Qatari government officials, Grad said that in return for strategic investments in its companies, Poland was willing to give investors management control, especially in the heavy chemical industry, the Gulf Times reported. 

 

Grad was also discussing the possibility of Qatar supplying liquified natural gas for a new terminal to be built on Poland’s Baltic coast, the newspaper added.

 

Top management of some of Poland's largest chemical companies - including state giant PKN Orlen and base chemicals supplier Ciech - are accompanying Grad on the trip.

 

Deals for investment in Polish chemical companies could be signed at the end of this month following a scheduled official visit to Middle Eastern nations by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

 

The government intends to exit completely from Poland’s chemical sector by 2011 through the scheduled privatisation of 19 chemical companies.

 

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By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

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