PZU turns down Ciech offer to buy stake in Jelfa

The country's biggest insurer PZU has no plans to sell its 12.66% stake in pharmaceuticals producer Jelfa despite an offer it received from Ciech, PZU' s chairman Zdzislaw Montkiewicz has announced. "A proposal and negotiations are two different things. We have received an offer but there have been no negotiations," Montkiewicz explained. According to the chairman, PZU is not likely to dispose of its shares in Jelfa, which it treats as a portfolio investment. Ciech filed its offer to purchase PZU's Jelfa shares in February and voiced its will to consolidate the pharmaceutical sector by creating one big entity which it would later float. Apart from PZU, Ciech has also placed an offer for the purchase of 30% of Jelfa currently controlled by the State Treasury. (Parkiet, p. 5; www.pulsbiznesu.pl) J.K.