EFL chief seeks BGŻ shares ahead of privatization

Main shareholder and head of top leasing firm Europejski Fundusz Leasingowy (EFL), Leszek Czarnecki, has begun accumulating shares in state-owned Bank G ospodarki Żywnościowej (BGŻ) from its minority shareholders. Czarnecki has r eportedly commissioned an un-named domestic brokerage house to purchase pref erred shares in BGŻ from rural cooperative banks together holding 30% of the bank. In an announcement the head of BGŻ, Jacek Bartkiewicz, did not reveal what stake Czarnecki had already acquired and what price he proposes for the shares though, according to calculations by Parkiet, the 30% stake may be wo rth as much as zł. 510 million. Bartkiewicz added that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is also still interested in becoming a shareholder in BGŻ, by injecting capital to the value of zł. 500 million. Th e privatization of BGŻ, which specializes in loans to the agricultural secto r and food processing industry, is scheduled for the first half of 2004. (Pa rkiet, p. 1) A.K.