Fierce legal battle up between Eureko and State Treasury over PZU control

According to legal experts, the Eureko/ BIG BG consortium waging a legal battle against the Treasury Ministry over its loss of control over PZU, Poland's largest insurer, may face serious difficulties in re-establishing its power in the giant. Similarly, it may prove equally difficult for the consortium to obtain the redress it demands from the Ministry for present and future losses it will suffer from the lack of control over PZU. The consortium, which holds a 30% stake in the insurer, was stripped of its power in a vote held on Monday night and now has no representatives on the PZU supervisory board. Yet under the provisions of its privatization contract it should have four representatives on the board. But the consortium's victory is not certain, as according to Leszek Koziorowski from Beata Gessel i Wspolnicy law firm, the new Corporation Code regulating voting rules supersedes a company's by-laws and privatization contracts. Legal experts are of the opinion that redress cases are usually extremely difficult, especially when estimated future profit losses are involved. (Puls Biznesu, p.10) J.K.