Mutlico seeks to buy controlling stake in ailing aluminum producer

Zbigniew Jakubas, the chairman of Multico wants to buy a majority stake in I mpexmetal, an enterprise quoted on Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW), which is the only producer of aluminum in Poland and which is also suffering from serious financial problems. The whole deal depends on whether the State Treasury wil l agree to sell its 30% stake in Impexmetal. Other investors including Nomur a International and Templeton are already considering selling their shares t o Jakubas. He believes this is the last chance to save Impexmetal. "I know h ow to do it. But I can only do it if I have full control over the company," he told Puls Biznesu. "I'm going to clean up Impexmetal and sell it." He wou ld probably only keep two steelworks in the holding, Huta Aluminum Konin and Huta Zawiercie, with the restructuring process taking about a year. Jakubas denied speculation that BRE Bank would participate in the operation, but the truth is that the bank could be a very helpful ally, as it is one of Impexme tal's creditors. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 7) A.D.