Konsorcjum Gdanskie ups ante for Rafineria Gdanska

According to Andrzej Szczesniak, the head of Polish Liquid Fuels Chamber (PIPP) and a representative of Konsorcjum Gdanskie, the consortium is willing to spend $200 million to acquire and boost the capital of Rafineria Gdanska (RG) refinery. This is twice the amount the consortium was ready to offer last May. Prior to the deal, in which 75% of RG will change hands, the consortium, associating 17 companies with total capital of zl.680,000, is planning to admit new members and raise its capital to reach zl.100 million. "We are making an effort to acquire Rafineria Gdanska and we will submit all required documents on time", says Szczesniak. The deadline for submission of documents is Dec. 21, and according to Rzeczpospolita, so far 10 companies have expressed interest in the offer. This is a second attempt at selling the refinery, since in 1998 only one company decided to participate in the initial tender. RG is planning to increase its net profits by around 50% compared to last year, earning zl.173 million. The refinery's revenues after the privatization would go up to zl.6.9 billion, zl.2 billion more than in 1999. (Rzeczpospolita, p.B4) J.K.