Possible deal for restitution claim should not worry Zywiec investors
"Shareholders should not worry," said Piotr Syta, an analyst at Raiffeissen Capital & Investment Polska. "The claim should affect the company's price much less than the financial results or the expected hot summer."
He added that the case, in which the Hapsburg family is seeking restitution for the nationalization of the brewery in 1945, could be easily solved if there were a reprivatization law in place. "Without it, this could take years," he added.
Despite the lack of such a law, the share price should not suffer from uncertainty over the case, Syta said. He added that similar claims by the heirs of chocolate firm Wedel's pre-war owners did not affect that company's price either.
Kingsmill Bond, a food and beverage analyst for Deutsche Bank research in London, said that the property claim for Zywiec brewery from the family of Hapsburgs has a long history and so should be built into the current share price.
"It comes from the time before Heineken's investment in Zywiec, so investors must be very well aware of it," Bond said. He added that the claim is directed at the brewery's previous owner, the Treasury Ministry.
"It should not affect the company in any way," he said. "But investors should keep an eye on it" because the outcome of the case is not predictable.
Actual filing of the claim was made in July 1998. Four heirs of Karol Olbracht Habsburg, the last private owner of the brewery, demanded that their names be put in the mortgage registry as owners, claiming the nationalization of the brewery in 1945 was illegal.
The amount of the claim, and the fact that the company and family are looking for a resolution to the case, has taken some by surprise. "The new thing is the amount of the claim," said Adam Drozdowski, a portfolio manager at BGZ. "It is very high, maybe not too high for such a large brewery, but the question is who should pay the money."
He added that the company would certainly not agree to pay, and the case may continue for another few years.
The latest twist in the case has not affected Zywiec's share price so far. The stock traded at zl. 510 last Tuesday, 4.8% up from the previous Friday and up 21.43% since the beginning of the year.
The Zywiec brewery was founded by Austro-Hungarian Archduke Karl Ludwig von Hapsburg in 1856, when the town of Zywiec was a part of the Hapsburg empire. It remained in the hands of one branch of the family until it was nationalized in 1945. The enterprise was privatized and floated on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in September 1991. Dutch brewer Heineken became a strategic investor in 1994 and currently owns more than 50% of the company.
He added that the case, in which the Hapsburg family is seeking restitution for the nationalization of the brewery in 1945, could be easily solved if there were a reprivatization law in place. "Without it, this could take years," he added.
Despite the lack of such a law, the share price should not suffer from uncertainty over the case, Syta said. He added that similar claims by the heirs of chocolate firm Wedel's pre-war owners did not affect that company's price either.
Kingsmill Bond, a food and beverage analyst for Deutsche Bank research in London, said that the property claim for Zywiec brewery from the family of Hapsburgs has a long history and so should be built into the current share price.
"It comes from the time before Heineken's investment in Zywiec, so investors must be very well aware of it," Bond said. He added that the claim is directed at the brewery's previous owner, the Treasury Ministry.
"It should not affect the company in any way," he said. "But investors should keep an eye on it" because the outcome of the case is not predictable.
Actual filing of the claim was made in July 1998. Four heirs of Karol Olbracht Habsburg, the last private owner of the brewery, demanded that their names be put in the mortgage registry as owners, claiming the nationalization of the brewery in 1945 was illegal.
The amount of the claim, and the fact that the company and family are looking for a resolution to the case, has taken some by surprise. "The new thing is the amount of the claim," said Adam Drozdowski, a portfolio manager at BGZ. "It is very high, maybe not too high for such a large brewery, but the question is who should pay the money."
He added that the company would certainly not agree to pay, and the case may continue for another few years.
The latest twist in the case has not affected Zywiec's share price so far. The stock traded at zl. 510 last Tuesday, 4.8% up from the previous Friday and up 21.43% since the beginning of the year.
The Zywiec brewery was founded by Austro-Hungarian Archduke Karl Ludwig von Hapsburg in 1856, when the town of Zywiec was a part of the Hapsburg empire. It remained in the hands of one branch of the family until it was nationalized in 1945. The enterprise was privatized and floated on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in September 1991. Dutch brewer Heineken became a strategic investor in 1994 and currently owns more than 50% of the company.
