The Warsaw bourse's grand finale

The privatization of oil and gas giant PGNiG accounted for almost 83 percent of the total value of bourse debuts in Q4 2005.

According to research from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), this was the second-biggest IPO within the last three years. The stock-market flotation of PKO BP in 2004, which was worth EUR 1.7 (zł.6.4) billion, is still the biggest debut to date.

The PGNiG flotation meant the value of IPOs on the WSE increased from EUR 20 (zł.75) million in Q3 2005 to EUR 102 (zł.385) million in the following quarter.

In total 35 new companies entered the WSE in 2005, the Polish bourse's officials revealed. The London bourse had the most IPOs, with 626 companies making their debut, followed by Oslo in second, where 48 new companies entered the Norwegian stock exchange. Among others, the WSE outran the pan-European Euronext, which consolidates Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lisbon. Some 34 new companies floated on Euronext in 2005.

This ranking puts the Polish bourse on top in Central and Eastern Europe. Of the 52 companies that debuted in Warsaw, Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna and Ljubljana, 70 percent appeared in Poland.

"We are expecting at least 20 new companies to enter the WSE this year," says Piotr Szeliga, deputy CEO of the WSE. "The macroeconomic situation in Poland encourages investments and we will try to increase our share in the country's GDP from 30 to 35 percent."

According to PwC's experts, the position of the WSE improved a lot in 2005. This was mainly due to Poland's good economic situation, its growing trustworthiness in the eyes of investors after the country's accession to the EU, and an accumulation of capital in pension funds.

Jacek Socha, a former Treasury Minister and now a partner in PwC Poland, said: "The current break in privatization IPOs is temporary and one can expect that the popularity of privatizing state-owned companies through the stock exchange is not going to fall, especially as it enjoys great public support."