Poland lists 22 state-controlled companies ‘not for sale’

Polish State Treasury Ministry listed 22 companies deemed strategic and not for sale. Firms include chemicals Grupa Azoty, oil giants Lotos and Orlen, utilities PGE and Tauron, lender PKO BP and insurer PZU among others. According to the Treasury these companies “are strategic for the economic security of the state.” The government also presented a list of 190 companies it has significant stake in, which are up for potential sale. The companies include miners Bogdanka and JSW, real estate group PHN, airlines LOT and Eurolot and media giants TVP and Polish Radio. The preferred privatization method would be floating the state stock on the WSE. Poland cites “professionalization of supervision and building value of entities important for the economic security of the state and decreasing state exposure in those areas in which that exposure is not indispensable,” as the main reason for offloading its stock in the companies.