Corus and Danieli to invest in Huta Katowice in unusual privatization plan

The Treasury Minister on Friday accepted Huta Katowice(HK)'s restructuring program and accepted the investment proposal of the British-Dutch group Corus and the Italian Danieli concern, said Jaroslaw Zwolinski, HK spokesman. The Treasury Ministry's decision means permission to establish a HK-Corus equipment production company, as well as permission to build in cooperation with Danieli a line of cast and rolled corrugated iron worth approximately $ 600 million. These investments would mean that the main Huta sectors would be privatized. HK president Andrzej Wrobel wants privatization to begin at the end of 2000. The foreign share in the new companies makes the privatization unusual, but, according to Wrobel, given HK's debt, it was the only possibility. (Rzeczpospolita, Oct. 7-8, page. B2)