Potential WSiP investor withdraws from privatization bid

Szkola Polska, a group consisting of four companies: publishing house and bookstore Drukarnia and Ksiegarnia Sw. Wojciecha, mobile phone operator Idea Centertel, newspaper Gazeta Handlowa and partnership Speed Cargo, decided not to participate in the privatization of the publishing house Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne (WSiP). Andrzej Nowakowski, finance manager of Drukarnia and Ksiegarnia Sw. Wojciecha, said, "It is politics that counts most in this privatization and not economic offers. We are not interested in politics." Szkola Polska was one of the seven consortia that had been invited by the Treasury Minister to bid. Unofficially it is known that the Treasury Ministry will take a decision about WSiP in two weeks. (Rzeczpospolita, May 27-28, page A1, A9) K.S.