Eureko-government ready to hold talks over PZU

The Treasury Ministry yesterday signalled that the government was seeking a compromise in a dispute with Netherlands-based insurer Eureko over the delayed privatization of Eastern Europe's largest insurer PZU. "It's unnatural that the main shareholders of PZU are not talking to each other. We have signals from Eureko that they are willing to meet with us, though no dates have been set yet," Treasury Minister Piotr Czyżewski told reporters. Last week, Czyżewski appointed the former chief executive of Citigroup's Polish unit, Cezary Stypułkowski, to head PZU in a bid to mend ties with Eureko and speed up the sale plan, which originally called for Eureko to boost its stake to 51% in 2001. PZU recently said its Q1 net profit fell 20% to zł. 348 million, mainly due to a drop in investment income. (Reuters; Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 4) M.M.