Frantschach Świecie shares take a tumble as Ministry looks for buyers

State Treasury Minister Piotr Czyżewski, yesterday invited potential investors to take part in the sale of its stake in paper producer Frantschach Świecie. The 5% stake was worth around zł. 216 million, however, as trading closed on the trade on the Warsaw Stock Exchange yesterday, its value fell to zł. 197 million due to the fact the company posted worse than expected Q3 results. The Treasury will wait for bids until November 12, and a buyer will be selected by December 3. According to recent declarations by Czyżewski, budget revenues from privatization will amount to zł. 4.5 billion this year, but by July the figure stood at only zł. 1.5 billion. The gap between the projection and the actual amount most probably forced the State Treasury to accelerate the sale of its remaining shares. However the announcement of the sale of the stake was planned at a rather unfortunate time, as simultaneously Frantschach Świecie posted their Q3 result, which showed a 5% fall in revenues and 43.7% fall in operational profit. (Parkiet, p. 1) A.K.