EBRD, Kredyt Bank and Raffeissen to fund new KGT

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Kredyt Bank and Raiffeisen are to provide financial backing for Tel-Energo and NOM in the process of forming the National Telecommunications Group (KGT), which is intended as an alternative to TPSA. Tel-Energo has been granted a loan for financial investments amounting to over zl. 400 million around zl. 300 million of which is to be spent on a 74% stake in Telbank, a company p roviding IT services for the banking sector. Tel-Energo has been negotiating a takeover of Telbank with the Central Bank (NBP). Andrzej Arendarski, President of Tel-Energo and NOM, has confirmed that talks with EBRD and the other two banks are in progress. "It is possible that the loan from EBRD will be converted into a financial investment," said Arendarski. One a lternative is that EBRD converts the loan into a stake in Tel-Energo. (Puls Biznesu, p. 9) K.Z.