Vattenfall looks to acquire large power plants

Swedish energy company Vattenfall, which so far has invested $643 million in power plants in Poland, is planning further acquisitions. "So far we have been restructuring our assets and we are very pleased with the results achieved by our Polish managers. Despite an 11% drop in sales we have improved our operating profit by over 15%. We have managed to limit employment to 3,400, down from 7,500, which was achieved in half of the cases by outsourcing the jobs and thus avoiding lay offs," said Tuomo Hatakka, president of Vattenfall Poland. He added that his company was interested in investing in large producers of energy, a segment in which the company has not yet been active in Poland. Hatakka would not reveal the names of power plants on his target list, but he believes that the Polish market has a strong development potential, as energy consumption in Poland amounts to 40% of the EU level. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 4) M.M.