New investors will hold key in battle for control over Ewa-Pollena

Bank Pekao SA is negotiating with two sector investors to sell its over 33% stake in cosmetic producer Pollena-Ewa. The potential investors are two domestic producers with partial Polish ownership. The transaction should be finalized over the next few weeks. President of Pollena-Ewa Krzysztof Pawlak, who has 16% of the votes at the general shareholders meeting, still hopes he can secure control over the partnership with help of his own new financial investors. "I am conducting talks about introducing investors to the partnership," said Krzysztof Pawlak. Meanwhile, Pollena-Ewa is trying to economize and plans to close six warehouses later this year. "I estimate this will save us an annual zl. 2.5 million," claimed the president of the company. Ewa-Pollena plans to introduce products in higher market segments and to boost exports. "Contracts signed for the second half of the year should increase exports by 50% in comparison to last year and increase its share in total production from 2 to 5%," said Pawlak. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 8) M.M.