Polsat to restructure ahead of imminent public listing

The media group Polsat is to disclose its restructuring strategy within the next 90 days, said group president and majority shareholder Zygmunt Solorz. The restructuring is crucial, as the group will debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) soon. The group is comprised of the largest private television station, Polsat and advertising agencies PAI Media and RS TV. The restructuring of Polsat will aim at separating the financial sections of the holding which consist of Invest Bank, the insurer Polisa Zycie and the pension fund PTE Polsat. Although Polsat will be floated on the WSE, some shares would also be traded in the form of global depository receipts (GDR) on the London and Frankfurt bourses, and on the NASDAQ. Solorz played down speculation that Polsat would be sold to a foreign investor. The company was in talks with media magnates Rupert Murdoch and Silvio Berlusconi on prospects of a sale. The Polsat group incurred record losses of over zl. 120 million last year. (Rzeczpospolita, page B2)