Vattenfall snubs government and issues own GZE shares

The Treasury Ministry did not manage to sell its remaining stake in the GZE power plant to Swedish shareholder of the company, Vattenfall. The major obstacle in reaching an agreement was the share price. Due to this the shareholders decided to raise GZE's capital by 150,000 shares worth around EUR 99 million. Vattenfall bought these shares, which took its hold in GZE up from 25% to 53%, and formally means that Vattenfall has met all privatization agreement conditions. However, in an interview for Rzeczpospolita, Treasury Minister Piotr Czyżewski, said that selling the remaining stake to Vattenfall, was to be the most secure privatization transaction in 2003. It is also known that the Ministry has not cancelled its plans and may return to negotiations with the Swedish concern later this year. (Rzeczpospolita, May 2-4, p. B4) M.M.