Banks jockey for position as railroad announces zl. 1 billion bond issue

National rail carrier PKP plans to conclude a new bond issue worth zl. 1 billion by the first half of May this year. Two bank consortiums are expected to enter bidding this week in an attempt to become the issuing agents. Westdeutsche Landesbank Polska, Bank Handlowy and BRE bank have joined forces to compete against ABN Amro, ING and Societe Generale, who would carry out the bid in the name of consortium leader Pekao S.A. "We have sent invitations to the bid to a number of banks which were interested in the earlier, cancelled bid and we have begun negotiations with the competitors. We hope to be able to carry out the issue before the 10th of May," said the head of PKP, Krzysztof Celinski. (Puls Biznesu, p. 3) A.K.