At this rate WSiP will never be privatized

Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne (WSiP), the largest publisher of educational books, has terminated initial talks with investors interested in the privatization of the company. WSiP's issue prospectus should be ready in two to three months. The value of the company is estimated at zł. 300 million. Previous attempts to privatize the publisher with the participation of the sector investors ended in a fiasco. Now, potential candidates for the takeover are losing interest. "A minority stake purchased on the stock exchange is of little interest for us, unless we treat it as a financial investment," said Adam Cyrański, co-owner of MAC Edukacja. After six months of 2003, WSiP net losses stood at zł. 11.8 million. "This was a lower loss than we had expected. In the budget we forecast being zł. 17 million in the red," explained Jan Rurański. WSiP's President However, the company failed to achieve its sales targets. "We expected these to reach zł. 92 million, but ended up with zł. 69 million," said Rurański. (Puls Biznesu, p. 8) K.Z.