Daewoo-FSO says it will wait for new investor before asking for loan

The press office of Kredyt Bank, in which Belgium's KBC Bank owns almost 30%, denied information released earlier this week that it would not lead a consortium of banks looking to lend the Polish-Korean car maker Daewoo-FSO $100 million for the construction of a plant to produce Matiz engines. At the same time, Daewoo-FSO representatives announced that for the time being they would not seek to obtain the loan. "We do not want to make any decision until a new strategic investor has come on board. This directive came from Daewoo's headquarters in Korea," said the company's spokeswoman Krystyna Danilczyk. To date, engines for Matiz have been imported form Korea. It is widely believed that by moving engine production to Poland, the chances of Daewoo-FSO's survival would increase significantly. (Zycie, p.7) A.Z.