Heineken increases stake in Zywiec ahead of today's new share issue

Dutch brewery Heineken has increased its stake in Zywiec by 8.5%, taking its total interest in the Polish brewing giant to 60.2%. Heineken paid zl.230 fo r each of the 635,000 Zywiec shares it bought from the Harbin company, leavi ng Harbin with a reduced 31% stake. Zywiec shares closed at zl.173 on the Wa rsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) yesterday, after a fall during the day of 1.1%. Th e Heineken-Harbin deal comes ahead of today's new share issue by Zywiec, und er the terms of which existing investors will be able to subscribe in propor tion to their stake in the company. "Both the biggest shareholders have give n assurances that they will subscribe to shares in the new issue," said Zywi ec spokesman Krzysztof Rut. Heineken, which has said it is ready to increase its stake in Zywiec further, has promised to consider buying any shares that are not sold, depending on the price. Zywiec plans to increase its capital b y 53% through the new issue, with the funds already earmarked for repaying i ts debts. (Parkiet, p. 3) M.T.