Treasury Ministry calls tender for Hipolit Cegielski ship engine producer

Late this month or early in November the Treasury Ministry will call a tender for the shares of Hipolit Cegielski Poznan (HCP),a producer of ship engines. Each potential investor will be offered a stake of 10%-80% of shares, plus 5% of the capital thus far earmarked as re-privatization reserves. The companies showing interest in the deal are Stocznia Szczecinska (SS) shipyard and Stocznia Gdynia (SG) shipyard, HCP's biggest clients. According to Janusz Szlanta, the head of SG, an optional participant in the bid would be a consortium composedof these two shipbuilding companies and a financial investor. However, neither side would comment on details. The tender indicates a significant change in the Treasury Ministry's policy concerning HCP, since thus far it had declared that the company would be strengthened with cash injections increasing its capital by zl 28-70 million. HCP, now said to be undergoing deep restructuring, has planned to turn zl. 647.56 thousand in profits this year and is now working hard to improve the condition of its 10 subsidiaries. Last year HCP recorded zl.3.8 million in net profit, while the whole group ended the year zl 8.73 million in the red. The company will continue to produce ship engines and already has a new project for an engine assembly unit in the Baltic coast region, where part of the firm's production will be moved. (Puls Biznesu, p. 3)