Hydrobudowa Slask and Energpol Poludnie seem set to quietly merge

Two construction companies quoted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), Katowice-based Hydrobudowa Slask (HS) and Sosnowiec-based Energopol Poludnie (EP) may merge. Their main shareholder, National Investment Fund (NFI) Jupiter, is supporting this move. EP has 12.23% shares in HS and both companies are active on the same market segment, having similar plans in highway construction, as well a common investor, Energopol Warszawa (EW). In January EW declared they wanted to become a strategic investor in EP. Ewa Krakowiak, financial director in EW, said that the merger of EP and HS could take place in April 2003, while president of HS, Jozef Tomik, denied talks of a merger. There is speculation that the management board of HS wants to keep the merger quiet as it will mean job losses in both companies. (Puls biznesu, pp. 1, 5) A.D.