Exbud Skanska plans to re-take ownership of GPRD

Exbud Skanska, controlled by the Swedish construction concern Skanska, has announced its desire to buy back GPRD Skanska shares from the company's investors. Exbud Skanska wants to re-acquire the shares (over 1.3 million) and withdraw the Gdansk-based company from the bourse. The stock evaluation of GPRD over the past six month did not exceed zl. 6 per share. Skanska has offered a 75% premium in the case of normal shares, acquiring them for zl. 11.2 a piece. The subscription will last from November 6 until December 5. "This call was expected. However, the high price suggests that the Swedish are anxious to acquire the shares and withdraw the company from the bourse," said ING IM Polska analyst Marek Swieton. Earlier this year Skanska withdrew Exbud from the public listing. It failed to acquire all the shares through the call but announced it would be offering zl. 21 per share for the next six months. The next step planned by the company is a merger of GPRD with Warsaw's Skanska, to form one company consolidating all the construction assets of the whole Skanska Group in Poland. In the first six months of this year, GPRD Skanska recorded revenues of zl. 136.8 million and operational profits of zl. 3.6 million. (Puls Biznesu, p. 8) A.K.