Swissair plans to sell lot stake in first half of this year

LOT Polish Airlines announced on Friday that Swissair Group, a 25.1% stakeholder in Poland's flagship carrier, wants to sell all of its shares in the company in the first half of this year. The Polish Institute of Management was chosen as adviser for the process of selling the stake. According to Treasury Minister Wieslaw Kaczmarek, LOT shares belonging to recently bankrupt Swissair will first be offered to financial investors, after which a public offering to industry investors will be made. Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has already shown interest in obtaining the stake. Swissair became a strategic investor in LOT in November 1999 by obtaining 37.6% of shares for $184 million. Due to an injection of capital into the national air carrier by the Treasury last November, the stake owned by Swissair Group fell to 25.1%. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 2; Puls Biznesu, p. 7) A.K.