Commission battles restructuring of Huta Częstochowa

The European Commission is opposing the restructuring of giant Huta Częstochowa (HCz) concern, whose assets are currently rented by the Huta Stali Częstochowa (HSCz) steel mill. Brussels has started an investigation to examine whether any of the companies involved have received any illegal public aid. According to the restructuring plan some assets, including electricity company Elsen, will be taken over by an operator company, which will be responsible for finding investors. Public creditors, including the Social Insurance Administration (ZUS) and the tax office, would then be paid off. The president of Industry Development Agency (ARP) Arkadiusz Krężel claims that the restructuring plan meets the demands of the so-called private investor test. However, Brussels does not agree with Krężel's argument. The Commission emphasized that many investors are interested in HCz so it is not necessary to wait till the operator company sells the firm's assets, because they can simply be bought by an investor. Two companies, LNM and Donbas, are already applying for the mill. Polish government has declared that it will only choose an investor that the Brussels is in favor of. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6) A.F.