LOT brings speculation over Centralwings down to earth

After the recent general shareholder meeting of LOT, the market was filled with speculation that the airline was intending to sell its budget carrier to BRE Bank. This was supported by the fact that president of the bank, Sławomir Lachowski, was invited to join the supervisory board of the national airline. "Neither BRE placed such an offer, nor did we offer shares in Centralwings to any financial investor. At this stage, sale of any or the whole stake was never considered by the management board," said Piotr Dubno, deputy president of LOT. He went on to say that his company could increase the share capital of Centralwings by several million złoty, or even ten million złoty if the necessity arose. "Doubling the fleet of the budget carrier, standing currently at five planes, would not exceed LOT's financial capability," said Dubno. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B5) M.M.