Deputy Minister rejects media reports of Polish banks' interest in LOT stake

A consortium of foreign banks and two foreign airlines are interested in buying the Swissair stake in LOT Polish airlines, deputy Infrastructure Minister Andrzej Pilat announced yesterday. "Swissair has informed the Polish authorities that it has found investors interested in buying its 25.1% stake in LOT," Pilat said. He went on, "British Airways and Lufthansa are still interested in LOT. They may buy this packet of shares with the help of banks." He added that earlier media reports that local banks could rescue the national carrier were false. "It's not Polish banks that could buy LOT, but foreign banks that have operations in Poland," he said. British Airways moved quickly to deny interest in the share package. "We do already have a commercial arrangement with LOT but we are not looking for investments in the current economic climate," a spokesman said. Lufthansa declined to comment. Pilat ruled out re-nationalization as an option for saving LOT. "There is no money in the budget to buy back the stake. But there are two strong airline alliances and we will choose the group that offers the better financial terms," he said. It remains unclear how much a potential investor would have to pay for the stake. Swissair originally spent $183 million on it, but the current price may be much lower due to the economic climate and the bankrupt airline's desperate need of cash. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 14; Reuters) M.K.