Treasury Ministry makes management changes at Ciech

Yet another Treasury-owned company is going through a management shake-up. Seven out of nine members of the supervisory board of Poland's largest chemical holding, Ciech, as well as the company's president, were recalled from their posts yesterday by a vote of the Treasury Ministry and its dependent companies. Ludwik Klinkosz, who until now had been president of Chemia Polska (CP) and Miedzynarodowa Korporacja Gwarancyjna (MKG), and who is rumored to have close links to Treasury Minister Wieslaw Kaczmarek, was appointed as the new president. Not only did the Treasury Ministry succeed at changing the management of the company, they also forced a change in company statutes by changing the number of votes needed to pass decisions to 50% plus one from the previous three-quarters majority. Klinkosz announced that within the next six months CP will be incorporated into Ciech and will undergo restructuring. "Ciech will issue a new series of shares which will be given to the current shareholders. This will lead to an increase in Treasury Ministry's stake in Ciech," Klinkosz told Puls Biznesu. He added that Ciech intends to create a large capital group and later to introduce it on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). Ciech's new strategy will be revealed within the next month. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 29; Puls Biznesu, p. 7) M.T.K.