DLS seeks investor for its ambitious expansion plan

One of the largest food and beverage wholesalers, Dystrybucja Logistyka Serwis (DLS), plans to increase the number of its stores from 20 to 300 over the next three years which will cost zl. 100 million. In order to do this the company needs a financial backer. "We want to begin negotiations in the fourth quarter and plan to enter the Warsaw Stock Exchange," said DLS president Wojciech Kruszewski. He refused to comment on who might become the potential investor. There are good chances they will find an investor, as DLS's direct competitor - Eldorado from Lublin, received support from the venture capital fund Enterprise Investors (EI) in 1999. Managing partner of EI, Jacek Siwicki said that his company would not back competing businesses, but underlined that it is very lucrative for a wholesaler to enter the retail sector, with its higher profit margins. However, he said that one had to be very careful while developing retail networks in order not to compete with ones own clients and not to neglect investments in the wholesale business. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 3) M.M.