In Brief: Softbank; Bank Handlowy; Bartimpex gas imports; German trade

Softbank announced on Friday it has purchased 892,500 shares of Wonlok from NFI Hetman investment fund for zl. 25.7 million. (Gazeta Wyborcza, Dec. 14-15, p. 35) ... At the beginning of 2003 Bank Handlowy (BH) will lay off 500 employees. This means almost 10% BH's staff will be made redundant. BH has sacked 1,400 since it merged with Citibank (Poland) in 2001. (Gazeta Wyborcza, Dec. 14-15, p. 35) ... The owner of Bartimpex, Aleksander Gudzowaty, declared that it has no intention to pay for the whole amount of gas imported from Russia next year as the Russian side failed to comply with the terms of the contract. Gudzowaty intends to take the matter to court. (Rzeczpospolita, Dec 14-15, p. B1) ... For almost 30 years Germany has been the Poland's main trade partner. In 2001, the balance of trade between exceeded zl. 100 billion, with exports of zl. 51 billion, which constitutes 34.4% of Poland's exports. This makes Poland Germany's 13th largest trade partner. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B4) A.Z