Skanska launches bid to buy remaining Exbud shares

Swedish construction concern Skanska has launched a minority buyout bid for its Polish subsidiary Exbud, in which it holds a 94% stake. Skanska wants to purchase 900,278 shares, or 6.01% of the total share capital, for zl.21 each . The offer is to be open from December 4 to January 4, after which time the Swedish investor plans to withdraw the company from the Warsaw Stock Exchang e (WSE). Exbud's consolidated net losses exceeded zl.210 million in the firs t nine months of the year, and company management earlier announced plans to shed 4,000 jobs, about two-fifths of its workforce, as a way to cut costs. T he Polish construction company's share price has fallen by more than 40% thi s year. In bids announced by Skanska in the spring of 2000, the shares of Ex bud had fetched zl.40 to zl.45 each. At session's end on the WSE yesterday E xbud shares cost zl.19.70, 1.6% higher than Monday's close. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B10; Reuters) A.K.