Cabinet reportedly considering TPSA sale postponement

Prawo i Gospodarka reports there is a strong likelihood that at yesterday's meeting of the Cabinet a motion was presented to postpone for a year, to December 31, 2002, the next stage in the TPSA offering. The present deadline for the sale of an additional 15% stake in TPSA was set by the previous government. However, Treasury Minister Wieslaw Kaczmarek has, ever since he took office, been making it clear that he is against the offering going ahead this year. Magdalena Nienaltowska from the Treasury press office said that the reason for any deadline extension would be external economic factors. Analysts quoted by Prawo i Gospodarka supported her view that the conditions on the capital markets do not favor the sale at present, with TPSA's current share price the main reason for putting off the offering. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 11) P.J.