HCP feels the effects of Szczecin Shipyard bankruptcy

Bank Zachodni WBK is demanding repayment of its debts with Hipolit Cegielski Poznan (HCP), the ship engine producer that was fulfilling a contract for the Szczecin Shipyard on credit. Now the yard has gone bankrupt HCP is having difficulty paying back the zl. 25 million loan, granted in November 2001. "The reason was the worsening financial situation of the company as well as the nature of relations between the Bank and the company," explained Piotr Gajdzinski from Bank Zachodni WBK, which has also frozen the company bank account. "This is a nervous reaction by the Bank. It was provoked not by the state of our company, but rather due to the situation in the shipyard sector," said Boleslaw Januszkiewicz, HCP's spokesperson. This difficult situation could be solved if the Szczecin Shipyard settled its zl. 107 million debts with HCP. Meanwhile, the government has begun to give fi nancial guarantees to another HCP's debtor, Gdynia Shipyard so that the Szczecin scenario will not be repeated. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 4, 5) A.D.