Treasury Ministry defends PHS privatization process

Deputy Treasury Minister Andrzej Szarawarski has strongly denied the accusations of U.S. Steel, who criticized the Polish Steel Mills (PHS) tender, retorting, "We do not change the rules in the middle of the game." U.S. Steel, which along with Indian LNM has been asked to clarify their initial offers for PHS, controlling 70% of the domestic steel market, said it had had enough of continuous changes in the rules of the tender and demanded that the whole procedure be sped up. "The scheme for the PHS privatization has been clear from the very beginning. The government has not changed anything, but merely moved the schedule by one week to give investors more time to submit their offers," Szarawarski explained. "Transferring the steel assets to the Industrial Development Agency (ARP) is an element of the concern's internal restructuring and as such does not have to be discussed with potential investors," he added, referring to U.S. Steel's earlier charges. (Puls Biznesu, p. 3) J.K.