Sydkraft buys controlling stake in Zlotow municipal heating company

Swedish utility firm Sydkraft has concluded a deal to buy a controlling stake in the municipal heating company in Poland's western town of Zlotow for zl.5.7 million. ZEC Zlotowa, which supplies heat to Zlotow's 20,000-strong community and its businesses, has installed capacity of 104 megawatts and annual sales revenues of around zl.7 million. The Swedish group, which has recently acquired a strategic stake in a heating plant in the northern city of Koszalin, said in a statement that it would invest at least zl.5.24 million in the Zlotow plant by the end of 2006. The deal, which will give Sydkraft 70% of the municipal heating company, is subject to approval by the Polish competition authorities and the interior ministry, the firm said. (Puls Biznesu, p. 7; Reuters) K.K.