New portal Arena.pl, partly backed by US-based Templeton, kicks off today

Arena.pl, a portal supervised by Internet Ventures Poland (IVP), will kick off today. The portal is being advertised as Polish Infoseek. According to unofficial sources, US-based Templeton, one of the biggest investment funds, is engaged in the enterprise. The US-company has a 20% stake in IVP which it purchased for $4 billion. Rumors are circulating that Arena will be only part of a regional portal operating in Central and Western Europe. If so, IVP may have a chance to debut on the Nasdaq. Apart from Templeton, other financial partners and strategic investors are said to be interested in investing in Arena. (Puls Biznesu, page 8) A.Z.