What the Ruch's going on?
Dutch-based private equity firm Eastbridge, owned by Yaron Bruckner, said to be a close friend of President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, is tipped to acquire this country's largest daily-press distributor, Ruch, before going on to subsume it within the Eastbridge-owned Empik Media and Fashion (formally NFI Hetman) group.
The privatization of Ruch has been held up for nearly 10 years as a result of French-based Hachette disputing a tender in 1997, as a result of a cancelled 1995 tender in which the French firm had made a bid for 40 percent of the distributor. A court ruling in 2001 blocked the trading of Ruch shares, pending an agreement between Hachette and the government.
But the decade long impasse may soon be resolved, press speculation postulates, through a deal between Hachette and Eastbridge. The theory goes that Eastbridge may buy up shares in HDS Wydawcy Prasy, a press publishing company owned by a consortium controlled by Hachette. Having thus paid Hachette back for its investment in Ruch, the plot runs, Eastbridge would then go on to acquire Ruch itself.
Speculation is reinforced by leaks to the press that the government is, despite unofficial declarations to the contrary, involved in unofficial negotiations with Eastbridge on the question of Ruch. Supporters of the theory also point to another link between Eastbridge and Hachette. Hachette recently sold a chunk of its 85 percent share in HDS to CA IB Fund Management, a fund close to Eastbridge, which also previously owned NFI Hetman.
While Maciej Dyjas, president of Empik Media and Fashion, is anxious to distance himself from the issue, he makes no secret of the fact that Ruch would be a precious jewel in the Empik crown.
"Nothing has happened for the last 10 years, and I doubt there will be a final outcome any time soon," he says, adding, "Formally, the Empik Media and Fashion has nothing to do with the process."
But Samoobrona (Self-Defense) leader Andrzej Lepper is not the only one to have voiced his objections to the whiff of such secret negotiations. Media mogul Zymunt Solorz and Zbigniew Jakubas, creator of the Polsat TV channel, both board members of Polskiej Grupy Kapitałowej (PGK) that is interested in acquiring Ruch, have also made their opposition known.
In June, Jakubas told the press that he suspected that the government planned to hand Ruch to Eastbridge under very murky conditions, adding that he had demanded a clarification of the situation from Treasury Minister Jacek Socha.
Another interested party, Krzystof Klicki, owner and president of Ruch's chief competitor, Kolporter, is more sanguine. Kolporter has been fast encroaching on the market, during Ruch's years in limbo, and now commands a market share of nearly 40 percent. Net profits for the first half of 2004 are up as much as 600 percent on the same period last year. And the company plans to control half the market by the end of 2005. But Klicki denies that the longer Ruch remains in the hands of the state, the better for Kolporter, putting his firm's success down to cost cutting and wise investments.
"The quicker and more transparent the government's decision, the better for us," he says.
Unwilling to discuss the rumors concerning Eastbridge, Klicki did claim, curiously, that he is not as certain as some that antimonopoly laws exclude Kolporter itself from joining the throng of Ruch's suitors. Meanwhile, the Kolporter group has announced it is planning to acquire a new company by the end of the year.
However, Jerzy Strzelecki, former undersecretary of state in the ministry of privatization, now a partner in investment banking advisory firm Finco, poo-poos all the chatter.
"First of all, Ruch shares are blocked... There is almost no way the government could sell off Ruch to Eastbridge - even with Hachette's blessing - without a tender," he says, adding, "It seems to me that Jacek Socha is most sympathetic to the stock exchange, as a route for government exits."
The privatization of Ruch has been held up for nearly 10 years as a result of French-based Hachette disputing a tender in 1997, as a result of a cancelled 1995 tender in which the French firm had made a bid for 40 percent of the distributor. A court ruling in 2001 blocked the trading of Ruch shares, pending an agreement between Hachette and the government.
But the decade long impasse may soon be resolved, press speculation postulates, through a deal between Hachette and Eastbridge. The theory goes that Eastbridge may buy up shares in HDS Wydawcy Prasy, a press publishing company owned by a consortium controlled by Hachette. Having thus paid Hachette back for its investment in Ruch, the plot runs, Eastbridge would then go on to acquire Ruch itself.
Speculation is reinforced by leaks to the press that the government is, despite unofficial declarations to the contrary, involved in unofficial negotiations with Eastbridge on the question of Ruch. Supporters of the theory also point to another link between Eastbridge and Hachette. Hachette recently sold a chunk of its 85 percent share in HDS to CA IB Fund Management, a fund close to Eastbridge, which also previously owned NFI Hetman.
While Maciej Dyjas, president of Empik Media and Fashion, is anxious to distance himself from the issue, he makes no secret of the fact that Ruch would be a precious jewel in the Empik crown.
"Nothing has happened for the last 10 years, and I doubt there will be a final outcome any time soon," he says, adding, "Formally, the Empik Media and Fashion has nothing to do with the process."
But Samoobrona (Self-Defense) leader Andrzej Lepper is not the only one to have voiced his objections to the whiff of such secret negotiations. Media mogul Zymunt Solorz and Zbigniew Jakubas, creator of the Polsat TV channel, both board members of Polskiej Grupy Kapitałowej (PGK) that is interested in acquiring Ruch, have also made their opposition known.
In June, Jakubas told the press that he suspected that the government planned to hand Ruch to Eastbridge under very murky conditions, adding that he had demanded a clarification of the situation from Treasury Minister Jacek Socha.
Another interested party, Krzystof Klicki, owner and president of Ruch's chief competitor, Kolporter, is more sanguine. Kolporter has been fast encroaching on the market, during Ruch's years in limbo, and now commands a market share of nearly 40 percent. Net profits for the first half of 2004 are up as much as 600 percent on the same period last year. And the company plans to control half the market by the end of 2005. But Klicki denies that the longer Ruch remains in the hands of the state, the better for Kolporter, putting his firm's success down to cost cutting and wise investments.
"The quicker and more transparent the government's decision, the better for us," he says.
Unwilling to discuss the rumors concerning Eastbridge, Klicki did claim, curiously, that he is not as certain as some that antimonopoly laws exclude Kolporter itself from joining the throng of Ruch's suitors. Meanwhile, the Kolporter group has announced it is planning to acquire a new company by the end of the year.
However, Jerzy Strzelecki, former undersecretary of state in the ministry of privatization, now a partner in investment banking advisory firm Finco, poo-poos all the chatter.
"First of all, Ruch shares are blocked... There is almost no way the government could sell off Ruch to Eastbridge - even with Hachette's blessing - without a tender," he says, adding, "It seems to me that Jacek Socha is most sympathetic to the stock exchange, as a route for government exits."
