Fishing for foreign capital
Strange names are starting to appear on the WSE. Hungarian chemical producer BorsodChem entered the Warsaw bourse to get closer to potential partners. Bank of Austria Creditanstalt, which is simultaneously listed in Warsaw and Vienna, along with its mother concern HVB, is financially connected to BPH and invests in Poland. IVAX, a pharmaceutical firm based in Florida, introduced its own shares in place of a bought-out local drug manufacturer's. Finally, German venture-capital fund BMP AG debuted this December at the same time in Frankfurt and Warsaw.
Others, such as Hungarian fuel concern MOL, have got the green light from the Securities Commission and are waiting anxiously in the wings to make their WSE entrance.
The list seems modest, but down at the WSE everyone is excited. "There are just a few European bourses where foreign companies are listed," points out Piotr Szeliga, vice-president of the WSE, with satisfaction.
International debuts usually drag international capital along with them. "If a country expands rapidly, has huge investment needs, has a budget deficit to service and little capital to invest, there is no other option but to import capital," says the chief economist of BRE Bank, Janusz Jankowiak. "The spread on interest rates between Poland and other countries is still a money magnet for foreign capital."
The other side of the story is that, with modest economic growth, the old EU member-states' bourses have stagnated. However, while London and Euronext outran the WSE in terms of IPOs, the others have little to brag about.
"We have had a series of talks with such [foreign] companies," reveals Marcin Sadlej of CA IB. In his view, if representatives of a German firm come to Poland they are quite amazed. In Germany, an IPO market barely exists, he says.
For now, listing international firms gains the Warsaw bourse prestige, but little else. Their accumulated value does not seem to be large enough to play a significant role in the market structure.
Although Polish officials welcome every traveler from a distant land with arms wide open, it is an inflow of cash that the economy needs most. Or, in the words of Tomasz Mazurczak from BRE Bank Investment House: "We depend on a stream of capital from abroad, which, at least theoretically, is unlimited."
(B.W.)
Others, such as Hungarian fuel concern MOL, have got the green light from the Securities Commission and are waiting anxiously in the wings to make their WSE entrance.
The list seems modest, but down at the WSE everyone is excited. "There are just a few European bourses where foreign companies are listed," points out Piotr Szeliga, vice-president of the WSE, with satisfaction.
International debuts usually drag international capital along with them. "If a country expands rapidly, has huge investment needs, has a budget deficit to service and little capital to invest, there is no other option but to import capital," says the chief economist of BRE Bank, Janusz Jankowiak. "The spread on interest rates between Poland and other countries is still a money magnet for foreign capital."
The other side of the story is that, with modest economic growth, the old EU member-states' bourses have stagnated. However, while London and Euronext outran the WSE in terms of IPOs, the others have little to brag about.
"We have had a series of talks with such [foreign] companies," reveals Marcin Sadlej of CA IB. In his view, if representatives of a German firm come to Poland they are quite amazed. In Germany, an IPO market barely exists, he says.
For now, listing international firms gains the Warsaw bourse prestige, but little else. Their accumulated value does not seem to be large enough to play a significant role in the market structure.
Although Polish officials welcome every traveler from a distant land with arms wide open, it is an inflow of cash that the economy needs most. Or, in the words of Tomasz Mazurczak from BRE Bank Investment House: "We depend on a stream of capital from abroad, which, at least theoretically, is unlimited."
(B.W.)
