Gdanski offering big test for Kwasniewski
The BGZ debt crisis had been so severe that some had advocated shutting BGZ down; its political support is far too strong for that. Prime Minister Jozef Oleksy recently talked of its privatization in the next five to seven years. That is probably too long to wait, but what to do in the interim is a problem. BGZ is an expert at siphoning money to the center, and it's not clear if it can reverse the process.
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There will be lots of tests ahead for President-elect Aleksander Kwasniewski, including how to deal with Solidarity strikers and with the Catholic Church.
Last weekend's Freedom Union removal of church-linked Jan Maria Rokita from the ruling body shores up Leszek Balcerowicz' economic-oriented direction for the party and may foretell selected cooperation rather than confrontation, if the Union had split into two.
Whether Kwasniewski passes muster with investors may be being tested right now, with the public offering of $160 million in stock in Bank Gdanski. "Willingly or unwillingly, the success of Bank Gdanski privatization might be seen as a test for his presidency," says Hubert A. Janiszewski, managing director for Poland of HSBC (Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp.), which is handling the sale.
Janiszewski said election fallout wasn't even discussed at the recent road show promoting the bank, but he concedes that everyone is waiting for Kwasniewski's first appointments to the presidential staff and to vacancies in ministries for foreign affairs, interior and defense.
The Polish subscription began Monday and runs through today, the first listing is expected on the Warsaw stock market Dec. 21, and at about the same time international shares will be sold through Global Depository Receipts (GDRs).
This is expected to include both trading on the London stock exchange and purchases by U.S. institutional investors, such as insurance funds.
Gdanski was lead bank for a $65 million syndication of a shipyard project financing, is partner with Canada-based International UNP Holdings Ltd. in the National Investment Fund No. 2, and Vice President Wojciech Haace says its portfolio of individual loans has nearly doubled in a year, from 47,000 to a projected year-end total of 80,000.
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VIVAT's Barbara Kosmala says Scottish salmon is the runaway best seller in her venture into direct marketing with "elegant hamper" gifts.
By this week she had orders for all but 50 kilograms of the 300-kilogram order of specially packed imports of smoked Scottish salmon from the Orkney Islands, in l.5-pound or l-pound sizes.
Amoco was the first among her more than 400 customers who have paid between zl. 50 ($20) to zl. 450 ($184) per gift hamper.
* * * *
There will be lots of tests ahead for President-elect Aleksander Kwasniewski, including how to deal with Solidarity strikers and with the Catholic Church.
Last weekend's Freedom Union removal of church-linked Jan Maria Rokita from the ruling body shores up Leszek Balcerowicz' economic-oriented direction for the party and may foretell selected cooperation rather than confrontation, if the Union had split into two.
Whether Kwasniewski passes muster with investors may be being tested right now, with the public offering of $160 million in stock in Bank Gdanski. "Willingly or unwillingly, the success of Bank Gdanski privatization might be seen as a test for his presidency," says Hubert A. Janiszewski, managing director for Poland of HSBC (Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp.), which is handling the sale.
Janiszewski said election fallout wasn't even discussed at the recent road show promoting the bank, but he concedes that everyone is waiting for Kwasniewski's first appointments to the presidential staff and to vacancies in ministries for foreign affairs, interior and defense.
The Polish subscription began Monday and runs through today, the first listing is expected on the Warsaw stock market Dec. 21, and at about the same time international shares will be sold through Global Depository Receipts (GDRs).
This is expected to include both trading on the London stock exchange and purchases by U.S. institutional investors, such as insurance funds.
Gdanski was lead bank for a $65 million syndication of a shipyard project financing, is partner with Canada-based International UNP Holdings Ltd. in the National Investment Fund No. 2, and Vice President Wojciech Haace says its portfolio of individual loans has nearly doubled in a year, from 47,000 to a projected year-end total of 80,000.
* * * *
VIVAT's Barbara Kosmala says Scottish salmon is the runaway best seller in her venture into direct marketing with "elegant hamper" gifts.
By this week she had orders for all but 50 kilograms of the 300-kilogram order of specially packed imports of smoked Scottish salmon from the Orkney Islands, in l.5-pound or l-pound sizes.
Amoco was the first among her more than 400 customers who have paid between zl. 50 ($20) to zl. 450 ($184) per gift hamper.
