July 2013vol. 5 no. 5(36)

Price: 20 zł

Big guns come out for Poland’s IPO Summit

Legal:One man’s quest for justice

Food Exports:Snails inch forward

FDI:PolskiBus to expand

Cover Story4 Top names turn out for record-breaking IPO Summit

Legal10 One man’s quest for justice

12 Equity News Food Exports14 Poland’s snail farms inch towards huge potential

EU Taxes18 Poland joins EU in battle against tax crime

18 Tax fraud to be tackled by Polish government

EU Budget19 Euro 1,000,000,000,000 budget set to benefit Poland the

most

BPO and Shared Services20 ABSL outsourcing association draws record numbers to

Łódź

FDI Investment News (22) Danish fish firm ex pands in Koszalin; (23) EBRD in $ 250

million power grid deal?; Pln 100 million for swimming pool complex in Lublin; (24) Poland-Thailand Forum; Delegation from Eastern Poland on Shared Services conference in Prague; Inner Mongolia Delegation; (25) Atlanta and southeast US target Poland; (26) PolskiBus gets expansion capital

City Investment (27) Kraków; (28) Katowice; (29) Poznań; Szczecin; (30)

Wrocław; (31) Łódź; (32) Gdańsk/Gdynia; (33) Eastern Poland

Chamber of Commerce News (34) Australia; Austria; (35) Belgium; (36) Canada; France;

(37) Germany; Italy; (38) Japan; Portugal; (39) ROC taiwan; Spain; (40) United Kingdom; (41) United States

42 Business Calendar Events43 (43) Enterprise Investors – Ventura 2012; (44) Wroclaw

Global Forum – and Winners of the 2013 Atlantic Council Freedom Awards; (45) British food showcased at The Queen’s Birthday celebration; (46) Annual “Place Marketing in Poland” event; (46) Natasza Urbanska unveiled her newest fashion collection

Table of Contents

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July 2013vol. 5 no. 5(36)

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The third annual IPO Summit proved that Warsaw is pulling further ahead from Vienna as the destination-of-choice for companies and capital providers.

With more than 650 guests from 40 coun-tries attending, the event's key speakers were Prime Minister Donald Tusk, former President Lech Walesa, and top investor Mark Mobius of Templeton.

IPO Summit, Warsaw is a major confer-ence for international investors and com-panies seeking growth capital in Central and Eastern Europe. The Summit was organised by the Ministry of Treasury, the Warsaw Stock Exchange and Central Securities Depository of Poland (KDPW) in cooperation with a range of blue-chip partners – global and regional financial, legal and advisory firms, and the City of Warsaw.

The conference serves as a platform for top level debates about investment and raising capital. The conference programme included two main tracks, one for investors and the other one for issuers. This year, the agenda was also enriched by one-on-one meetings of investors from international funds and managers of major WSE-listed companies.

Investors, issuers, representatives of financial institutions and public adminis-

tration, as well as journalists from around the world gathered in Warsaw to discuss development perspectives for capital mar-kets in Poland and Central and Eastern European countries. This year’s edition of the IPO Summit, Warsaw conference met with great interest and attracted a record number of attendees - 650. At the gala

event, winners of the IPO Summit, Warsaw Awards 2013 were announced in the con-test for institutions and companies who through their activity in the Polish capi-tal market have contributed to its further development.

The third annual IPO Summit, Warsaw was opened by Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, who in his address to the conference guests em-phasised the strengthening position of the Polish capital market not only in the CEE region but in Europe and worldwide. “It is not an easy role to praise your own coun-try’s situation while in Poland and Europe

it is fashionable to complain about a wide-spread crisis. However, having the honour to open the IPO Summit, Warsaw confer-ence with a clear conscience I can pres-ent numbers, data and objective evidence which favour Poland against the European and global economy. And above all, it en-courages and makes easier for all future

and current investors to do so. Therefore I am confident to declare that Poland is now one of the best countries for investment worldwide,” said Donald Tusk.

On behalf of the conference organis-ers, Włodzimierz Karpiński, Minister of Treasury, welcomed the conference guests. “We are very pleased to welcome you all to the IPO Summit, Warsaw 2013 conference, one of the biggest conferences in Central and Eastern Europe, which ev-ery year enjoys great interest among lead-ing international institutional investors as well as potential issuers. When devel-oping Poland’s capital market, it is of ut-most importance for us that our investors can trade safely and in a forward-looking fashion. I would like to thank all organis-ers and partners of our conference, who have contributed to building up its strong position.”

This edition – held in early June - was attended by guests from 40 countries, in-cluding Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the Baltic states, as well as from China, United Arab Emirates and United States. Guests repre-sented global financial institutions, such as banks and investment funds, as well as executive bodies of companies already list-ed on WSE and of those still preparing for

Cover Story

Top names turn out for record-breaking IPO Summit

“I am confused whether Poland is still an emerging market

or already a developed one.” – Paweł Tamborski, Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Treasury

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their stock debut. The conference was cov-ered by over 60 economic journalists spe-cialising in capital markets, half of which represented international media.

The keynote speaker of the conference was Mark Mobius, Executive Chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets. In this con-text, he emphasized the long-term attrac-tiveness of the Polish equity market. “Due to the significant growth potential which we are expecting to see on emerging mar-kets, we have decided to open our second office in Poland. Already, we have around 400 people working for us in Poznań, in ad-dition to our Warsaw office.”

Equally favourable opinions about the Polish market were expressed at panel dis-cussions organised on the first and second day of the conference. Warsaw is an attrac-tive place for investment and has a strong potential for growth – this was one of the main conclusions of the IPO Summit.

Participants of the first panel “Poland, Europe and the new division of global economies” agreed that in the long term the main driver of economic growth are public investments, which give a boost to many sectors of the economy and cre-ate jobs. In the second part of the pan-el, panelists focused on evaluating the situation on the Polish capital market, positively remarking on the existence of a substantial group of domestic inves-tors who generate demand for shares of

small and medium-sized companies go-ing public on the WSE. The panelists in-cluded Michala Marcussen, Global Head of Economics at Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking; David Aserkoff, CEEMEA Equity Strategist at J.P. Morgan; Piotr Bielski, Senior Macroeconomist at Bank Zachodni WBK; Piotr Chwiejczak, Senior Macroeconomist at Barclays; and Ebrahim Rahbari, Global Economist at Citi Investment Research. The discussion was moderated by Roman Młodkowski, Director and Chief Editor of TVN CNBC.

In the afternoon, important issues re-lated to capital markets in the CEE region, and particularly in Poland, were raised during the second panel titled “Developed vs. emerging markets – key drivers of fu-ture cash flows.” The discussion brought interesting observations on the differ-

ences between how the categories of devel-oped and emerging markets are perceived. “I am confused whether Poland is still an emerging market or already a developed one. On the one hand, we are part of the European Union and as a member state we are subject to EU regulations, which does not help us develop as dynamically as emerging markets do. But on the other hand, when looking at the statistics of our recent privatisation transactions, we can see that the majority of demand for new shares comes from emerging markets,”

said Paweł Tamborski, Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Treasury of the Republic of Poland.

Adam Maciejewski, President & CEO of Warsaw Stock Exchange, remarked on a shift in investment strategies: “What we have recently observed on both emerging and other markets as well, is a new trend of great rotation of investors from bonds to equities. It has already arrived in Poland as we can see that the appetite for risk is defi-nitely bigger now than just a few months ago. And it seems to be the right time to start thinking about investing in equities rather than just in traditionally very safe instruments.”

Iwona Sroka, President & CEO of the Central Securities Depository of Poland (KDPW), pointed to the economic ben-efits of being part of the group of emerg-

ing markets: “I think that there are lots of advantages resulting from us still being in the group of emerging markets as we can benefit from e.g. lower competition expo-sure. We must remember that our market economy is still very young and we have a big potential for very successful develop-ment ahead of us.”

Other panelists included representa-tives of international financial institu-tions. Peter Oppenheimer, Chief Global Equity Strategist at Goldman Sachs, gave a brief summary of some of the major

Cover Story

“What we have recently observed on both emerging and other markets as well, is a new trend of great rotation

of investors from bonds to equities.” – Adam Maciejewski, President & CEO of Warsaw Stock Exchange

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drivers for capital markets, in particular some of the most important differences in the drivers between developed and emerging economies. According to Mr. Oppenheimer, in the nearest future the global economy is going to pick up again. Goldman Sachs forecasts that by the end of next year global growth will be back to up to 4% and then will increase even fur-ther in the years 2015-2016. A substantial amount of the growth will be generated by the US economy and, to some extent, by Japan. He also stated that in time of the global economic crisis growth prospects on emerging markets look very promising in the long-term. Another panellist was Jose Martins Soares, Head of Emerging Markets Research at Espirito Santo Investment Bank. The discussion was moderated by Louisa Bojesen of CNBC Europe.

After the second panel discussion was finished, the attendees of the IPO Summit, Warsaw 2013 conference had the unique opportunity to listen to the closing ad-dress delivered by Lech Wałęsa, former President of the Republic of Poland, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Ambassador of the IPO Summit. “In Europe, we have ac-complished a great leap forward. We have removed divisions into antagonistic blocks and borders separating countries. We have replaced them with an era of reconciliation and globalization. Now, we should build our future on the foundations of shared values, regardless of our religious or po-litical convictions. Let us draw up a secu-lar Decalogue, ten secular commandments which will teach younger generations all around the world how to live their lives in the spirit of a lay conscience. Through de-bating and discussing it, I am sure we are able to achieve a compromise on that,” said Lech Wałęsa.

In the evening, the IPO Summit, Warsaw 2013 Gala took place, at which the winners of the IPO Summit Warsaw Award 2013 contest were announced. Held in the Palace on the Isle at Royal Łazienki Museum in Warsaw, the event was graced with the presence of Jerzy Buzek, former Prime Minister of Poland, and Janusz Lewandowski, Member of the European Commission.

The Award winners were selected in five categories: • “Best Domestic Emerging Long Fund

2013”: Amplico OFE• “Best International Emerging Markets

Long Fund 2013”: Franklin Templeton Investment

• “Best International Emerging Markets Alternative Fund 2013”: Jabre Capital Partners

Cover Story

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• “Best Regional IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange 2013”: Alior Bank

• “The Bridge Award 2013” - a special award – went to BlackRock. The special award honors efforts made

to secure CEE’s strong position on the world’s investment map. It also crowns

activities aimed at integrating business in Central and Eastern Europe with global capital, in line with the main idea of the conference logo which is a symbolic bridge.

During the second day of the conference investors and companies were discussing opportunities to invest and raise capital on the Polish capital market. They could take part in a total of six panel discussions of-fered in two parallel tracks – one for inves-tors and another one for issuers.

Discussions among international inves-tors covered key aspects of their activities on emerging markets. Prospects for the IPO market in the CEE region, Europe and around the world were debated and an at-tempt was made at defining general trends which are starting to dominate global mar-kets. Also, the issue of capital raising on the public market by energy and resources companies was raised in the context of big investment projects planned in the E & R sector. Next, the panelists shared their views on different instruments used for financing investments, including corpo-rate bonds and their likely advantages over bank loans.

Panelists discussing the global IPO market from the local and international outlook widely expressed their optimism

about the situation on the capital mar-kets in the near future. They went on to emphasise the role of new trends that are commonly observed on global capi-tal markets and the necessity to adapt to the changes in how shares are traded. As an example, high frequency trading was quoted, which is a new model of equity trading on the Polish market and which was made possible by the UTP system re-cently adopted by Warsaw Stock Exchange. Among the panelists were Tara Cemlyn-Jones, Head of EEMEA Capital Markets at Espirito Santo Investment Bank; Izabela Olszewska, General Manager of the Market Development Division at Warsaw Stock Exchange; Sam Dean, Head of Global Equity Capital Markets at Barclays; Jarosław Grzesiak, Managing Partner at Greenberg Traurig; and Jacek Lewandowski, President of IPOPEMA Securities. The moderator of the discus-sion was Jan Niedziałek, Market reporter of TVN CNBC.

The discussion about the Energy and Resources industry on the public market focused on the sector’s attractiveness and security, its financing and rates of return. Market experts stressed i.e. the pivotal role of regulation in this sector.

Cover Story

We help you communicate withthe new Central European players in the EU,

leveraging our twenty years of experience in the region.

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The panellists included Florian Debionne, CFO of EDF Polska; Mariusz Grendowicz, CEO & President of the Management Board of Polskie Inwestycje Rozwojowe; Bohdan Malaniuk, Deputy Director M&A of CEZ; Adam Sawicki, Executive Vice-President of KGHM Polska Miedź; and Wojciech Topolnicki, Executive Vice-President of ENERGA S.A. The panel was co-moderated by Wojciech Hann, Partner in Financial Advisory Department at Deloitte, and Łukasz Szatkowski, Legal Advisor and Senior Lawyer at Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

At the “Corporate bonds – another level of development of the Polish capital mar-ket? Threats and Opportunities” panel, panelists agreed that the key issue to be addressed is how to improve the liquidity of the Catalyst/Bondspot market. One of the solutions is to stimulate more inter-est in the bond market among retail in-vestors. The panelists included Marzena Górska, Debt Portfolio Manager of Investors TFI; Manfred Burdis, Managing Director and Head of DCM Origination at Erste Group; Grzegorz Namiotkiewicz, Managing Partner of Clifford Chance; Michał Pietrzyk, Deputy Director of Economic Department at Polish Oil & Gas Company (PGNiG SA); and Artur Zawadowski, Partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Tomasz Bardziłowski, Managing

Director and Vice President of the Board at Dom Inwestycyjny Investors, moderated the panel.

Panels addressed to companies planning their stock debut also attracted attention. Subjects for discussion were chosen on the basis of questions frequently asked by companies considering going public. Attendees of panels offered in the issuers track could learn about the role of research analysts in the IPO process, follow through the key stages before the stock debut and find out more about the pros and cons of dual listing.

The first panel dealt with the role of re-search analysts in the IPO and post-IPO process. The panelists stressed the necessity of building good working relations between companies and analysts, underlining the importance of the research report as well as giving advice on how to best prepare for the management’s meeting with the analysts. If the company is committed to manage its communication processes with the capital market in a matter-of-fact and transparent manner, it can gain more trust and cred-ibility among investors, winning some kind of “a market premium”. Therefore, Investor Relations departments should respond to investors’ queries diligently and promptly, regardless of the size of their stake. The panelists included Karol Chrystowski, CFA of Altus TFI S.A.; Michał Potyra, Director

and Equity Research Department at UBS Investment Bank; Wojciech Sobieraj, Chief Executive Officer of Alior Bank; Przemysław Wasilewski, Director of Investor Relations at PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna; Rafał Wiatr, Head of Polish Research and Vice President of Management Board at DM Banku Handlowego; and Marcin Żółtek, Board Member, Investment Director at Aviva PTE. The discussion was co-mod-erated by Andrzej Knigawka, Head of Equity Research of ING Securities, and Karol Półtorak, Head of Polish ECM, Vice President of DM Banku Handlowego.

At the second panel of the issuers track “IPO – am I ready? From decision to going public”, panelists argued that even during economic slowdown going public is an op-tion worth analyzing. According to them, companies can use this adverse time to better prepare for the IPO under consid-eration, which it is a long and complex process often requiring i.a. deep organi-zational changes. Among the panelists were Filip Paszke, Head of Equity Capital Markets at Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking; Maciej Ptak, Chief Executive Officer of Raiffeisen Investment Polska; Piotr Sokołowski, Partner in Audit Department at Deloitte; Grzegorz Zawada, Head of the Brokerage House of PKO Bank Polski; and Konrad Zawisza, Managing Director of BRE Bank

Cover Story

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Securities. Adrian Cartwright, Partner and Co-head of the European Equity Capital Markets Practice at Clifford Chance, moderated the panel.

It is crucial for the company deciding to choose dual listing to be attractive from the point of view of potential inves-tors, which is best done by developing an

appropriate equity story – this was the main conclusion of the discussion in the “Dual listing – pros & cons” panel. The panelists maintained that a big point in favour of choosing WSE as the venue for dual listing is a wide range of links with other markets secured by the Central Securities Depository of Poland (KDPW), which greatly facilitate the process. The panellists were Piotr Borowski, Director of Business Network Development Department of Warsaw Stock Exchange; Martin Hinteregger, Managing Director, Head of Equity Capital Markets at Erste Group; Michał Lukac, Head of International Client Relations at Central Securities Depository of Poland (KDPW); Wilf Walsh, Chairman of Fortuna Entertainment Group; and Rafał Sieński, Partner at Greenberg Traurig. The panel was moderated by Ingo Bleier, Head of Investment Banking at Erste Group.

Under the accompanying programme, on the final day of the conference one-on-one meetings between investors and rep-resentatives of management boards of the biggest WSE-listed companies were held along with a debate among international economic journalists. n

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Stonewalled by the Belgian Embassy, rejected by the Prosecutor’s office and spurned by the processes of the Polish justice system, Tom Dierick refuses to give up.

In his battle to recover Euro 142,000 swin-dled from him in spring 2012, Dierick is taking his fight to the next level. Despite “reasonable” advice that he will “never get his money back”, he is, in the words of one party, “stirring up a hornet’s nest”. And that’s precisely what he intends to do.

Dierick resembles a one-man justice system intent on righting the wrongs inflicted.

The case – in fact, it’s not a case since the prosecutor closed the case after 3 days’ investigation and refuses to re-engage – is about trust in Polish justice and has impli-cations that reverberate throughout the Polish economy, reflecting the deep short-comings of Poland’s justice system, an archaic, sluggish system which is largely untouched by the substantial reforms in other parts of the Polish economy.

The story begins just over one year ago, when Dierick, a plastic polymers trader, did a simple deal, with a man named Aleksander Kowalczyk, who represented a company called KREODESIGN Sp. z o.o. in Wroclaw. Dierick is in the business of plas-tics processing, and Kowalczyk proposed a deal to buy 100 tons of the raw materials PolyPropylene at a very attractive price. And this would be just the first of several deals to come, which would lead to a full 1200 tons of imported materials.

But there was a catch.To get the much lower-priced raw materi-als, Kowalczyk required prepayment. As was later explained by Kowalczyk at the police investigation, the money was used to pay KOHLER GmbH, a German firm which would handle the import process of the 100 tons of PoliPropylene from Saudi Arabian firm SABIC. Kreodesign issued a pro-format VAT to Dierick’s company M&A Cefta, and M&A Cefta made the pre-payment of 142.000,-EUR.

The unusual deal, said Kowalczyk, hinged on a barter relationship between a Russian firm and the Saudi firm. A Belarussian, Pawel Szpilski, had helped

Kowalczyk orchestrate the unusual deal, said Kowalczyk, who assured Dierick that the 100 tons had been ordered and were due to arrive in Poland.

Kowalczyk never delivered the goods, and neither returned the money. And in August 2012, KOHLER GmbH filed for liquidation.

“Form over function”Dierick’s initial appeals to the prosecu-tor’s office in Warszawa ended within 3 days when the prosecutor issued a state-ment that the case was “umorzony”, i.e. not a criminal case but a civil case, and that therefore he would not pursue it further.

At this stage, deeply disappointed by the lack of progress by official legal channels, Dierick began to get the media involved – the “fourth estate”.

Dierick’s relentless pursuit has led to articles in 2012 in 3 Polish newspapers, including Gazeta Wroclawska and Gazeta

Wyborcza, 2 Belgian newspapers, and TVN sent a TV crew to follow the case, which broadcast a 30-minute investigative piece on TVN’s SUPERWIZJER on 13 November 2012, entitled “Jak Ambergold ?: Polak, eks-agent KGB i Belg”.  Rafal Dusza, theoreti-cally the prezes of KREODESIGN Sp. z o.o., who was filmed by a TVN television crew as he left his factory after an 8-hour shift, confirmed that he “saw Kowalczyk take 100,000 Euro out of the KREODESIGN bank account and put it in his pocket”. According to Dierick, Dusza was “only a front man for the company.”

Several journalists continue to fol-low the case, and controversy surrounds Kowalczyk, who reputedly has contacts within the Wroclaw police department. According to Dierick, there are also docu-mented cases where Kowalczyk has (suc-cessfully) bribed state officials in Wroclaw, and one case involved even a Governor of Dolnoslask.

Legal

One man’s quest for justice

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Yet the case was re-opened on in-struction of the court in Warsaw.At the police interrogation in Wroclaw, Mr. Kowalczyk declared that he had given the money in cash to an intermediary, Mr. Norbert Westphal from Berlin-based com-pany KOHLER GmbH. Then Mr. Westphal, who was finally interrogated on 21th March 2013 at the Policestation in Berlin, said he gave the money to Mr. Konstantin Kohler (who died in July 2012) at a meet-ing in April 2012 in Wroclaw, where this Mr. Kohler gave the money the same day to a certain Ahmed Serkeci, reputedly repre-senting SABIC, but with whom nobody has contact.

Dierick’s own private investigation led to the conclusion that at the time of this alleged meeting in Wroclaw in April 2012 Mr. Kohler, at that time 77 years old and weighing 47kg, suffering an advanced and spread-out cancer from kidneys to throat (the cause of his death three months later), was in reality lying in a hospital bed in Potsdam having a Thorax treatment on that day specifically.

While the frustration with the lack of action by the Polish prosecutor is obvi-ous, Dierick alleges that the prosecutor

is also obstructing the investigation. For example, although Dierick has the official status of “victim” he has not been allowed to participate at Mr. Kowalczyk’s inter-rogation, despite his legal right to do so, according to Dierick. Consequently, at the interrogations, the questioning was poorly executed. When Dierick then demanded a subsequent interrogation, the request was refused on the grounds that Kowalczyk’s status is of “witness”, not “suspect”.

Dierick’s theory is that Kowalczyk en-joys some hidden “protection” from above. According to Dierick, Szpilski is an ex-KGB spy with permanent residence permit, and was initially the broker of the deal. According to Dierick, there are several pros-ecutor’s investigations pending against Szpilski (real name Siemczenko), but he seems to be “untouchable”. Coincidence or not, his wife is the daughter of a very high ranking director in CBS.

Concurrently, Dierick has been appeal-ing to the Belgian Embassy in Warsaw as well as Belgian media and business orga-nizations. The Embassy, led by Belgian Ambassador in Poland, Raoul Delcorde, does not intend to get involved, on grounds of “principle of non-interference

in internal matters between sovereign states”. Dierick’s multiple requests to see the ambassador have been spurned. He has also written letters of appeal to the office of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and several members of Parliament. None of his letters have been answered.

Optimism and supportA hint of optimism and support, howev-er, is coming from the President of BBC (Belgian Business Club in Warsaw), Bruno Lambrechts, who has stated that in this case, it’s not only a conflict about money between two parties, but it’s also about the personal safety of a Belgian citizen in Poland. And UNIZO (an organisation representing over 100,000 Belgian com-panies and entrepreneurs in Belgium) has written a letter to Mr. Artur Harazin, Polish ambassador in Brussels, insisting for action from the side of the Polish jus-tice system.

Dierick remains resolute in his quest for justice, and his persistence and te-nacity may be the keys to both resolving his individual case, but also prodding the Polish justice system into deeper reforms. n

Legal

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Echo issues 5-year bonds worth of PLN 80mn Echo Investment has issued bonds worth of PLN 80mn maturing on Jun 18, 2018, the company announced. The issue s proceeds will be spent on repurchasing bonds with maturity in 2014, and in part on invest-ments on the real-estate market. Grupa Echo Investment is active in such sectors: offices, shopping centres and entertain-ment centres, hotels, housing unities, and property managing. The company had its debut on WSE in 1996. In 2012 the firm posted PLN 582.8 million of consolidated revenue.

Transport ministry expects PKO Cargo`s IPO prospectus to be ready in Q3/2013 The transport ministry counts that the is-sue prospectus of PKP Cargo will be sub-mitted with the Financial Supervision Commission (KNF) in Q3/2013, and the

initial public offering will take place in Oct-Nov, new deputy transport minister Zbigniew Rynasiewicz told the ISBnews agency. He also said that current discus-sion about wages would be solved positively and will not threaten the IPO`s schedule. According to earlier announcements, PKP Cargo wants to debut on the Warsaw bourse in Q4/2013, in line with the privatization

strategy of PKP. The company is the first carrier in Poland (60% share of market) and the second one in the EU (116 mn tonnes in 2012).

KOV may go ahead with Windstar takeover and change name into Serinus Energy Shareholders of Windstar Resources Ltd. have consented to the firm`s takeover by Kulczyk Oil Ventures (KOV), KOV an-nounced. At the same time, KOV`s share-holders will change KOV`s name into Serinus Energy. In late April, KOV entered into an agreement with Winstar Resources Ltd. stipulating that KOV will acquire all shares in Winstar for the price of CAD 112mn. Thus, KOV will be listed on the Warsaw and Toronto bourses. KOV is an international upstream oil and gas explora-tion and production company with a diversi-fied portfolio of projects in Ukraine, Brunei and Syria and with a risk profile ranging

from exploration in Brunei and Syria to pro-duction and development in Ukraine.

Orbis to invest PLN 100mn in hotel upgrades by end-2014 Accor’s hotel chain operator Orbis plans to spend PLN 100mn from its own resources on modernising its existing hotels by the end of 2014, according to the firm`s deputy

head Ireneusz Weglowski. Afterwards, the hotels may be sold, while Orbis would con-tinue to operate them under its asset-light strategy. A total of 90% of this amount will be spent in Warsaw. It plans refurbishing of the following hotels in Warsaw: Sofitel (PLN 35mn), Novotel Centrum (PLN 20mn), Mercure Warszawa (formerly, Holiday Inn, PLN 20mn) and PLN 50 mn for three Ibis brand facilities. Weglowski also said that Orbis plans to increase its network by 10 hotels on the average per year. He upheld the target of 90 hotels in 2015 vs. current over 60 facilities. Poland`s biggest hotel operator will cease to operate Orbis brand hotels within 2-3 years, but the name of the listed company will remain unchanged, the deputy president concluded.

SPO of BNP Paribas Bank Polska, worth of up to PLN 386mn, startsThe secondary public offering of BNP Paribas Bank Polska started in late June

with book-building. The offer comprises up to 8.575mn shares with the maximum price of PLN 45, which means that its value will be up to PLN 358.88mn, the bank announced in its issue prospectus. The issue price will be announced on Jun 27. Subscriptions for institutional investors will be held on Jun 28 - Jul 1, while for individual investors - on Jun 21-26. The rights for new issue shares

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are to start trading on the Warsaw bourse on or about Jul 10. The new issue shares will constitute 23.01% of the lender s increased capital, but BNP Paribas S.A. and some of its subsidiaries declared they would participate in the SPO, so that after the offering, the Polish bank`s free-float is 15% (vs. current 1%), which is the main target of the SPO. The bank plans to use the issue s proceeds by the end of 2015, with the majority of them (94%) earmarked for increasing its credit action. In May, 2009, BNP Paribas Group incorporated Fortis Bank under the name BNP Paribas Fortis. In May, 2011, the bank`s name was changed for BNP Paribas Bank Polska.

Gino Rossi to issue 35 million bonds to pay back bank debtFootwear firm Gino Rossi management board has passed a resolution about launch-ing a new bond issue worth PLN 35.0 mil-lion, the company announced. The issue proceeds will go towards paying the debt towards three banks: ING Bank Śląski Bank, DnB NORD Polska, and Alior Bank. The issue s collateral are the trademark of Gino Rossi`s clothing subsidiary Simple Creative Products and 5 million shares of the company.

KOV (Kulczyk Oil) starts drilling of LKU-1 well in Brunei AED Southeast Asia Limited (AED SEA), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Kulczyk Oil Ventures (KOV), has started drilling an exploration well on its Lukut Updip prospect on Brunei Block L, the firm announced. The LKU-1 well, the first exploration well to be drilled during the Brunei Block L Phase 2 drilling campaign, will be drilled as a directional well with a planned measured depth of 2,959 metres and a planned true vertical depth (TVD) of 2,431 m. KOV has a 90% interest in the Block L with indirect wholly-owned sub-sidiary Kulczyk Oil Brunei Limited having a 40% interest and indirect wholly-owned subsidiary AED SEA (operator) having a 50% interest. The remaining 10% interest is owned by a private Brunei company at arm`s length to KOV. Block L is a 1,123 square ki-lometre exploration and development block covering certain onshore and offshore areas of Brunei. The first two exploration wells, Lempuyang-1 and Lukut-1, were drilled by KOV and its joint venture partners in 2010 in the southern part of Block L. Both wells en-countered hydrocarbons. The Lempuyang-1 well tested gas but was abandoned due to downhole operational problems associated with high pressure. Wireline logs of the Lukut-1 well indicated potential gas zones which have not been tested to date.

Bioton biotech firm changes bond conditionsBioton has fulfilled conditions related to the issue bonds of A series, as all bondhold-ers consented to changes written in the resolution. As a result, the firm`s supervi-sory board took the decision to ratify the bonds issue s changes, the company an-nounced. Earlier this month, the manage-ment decided to change the date of issue of series B bonds, which had been scheduled to July 22, 2013. It also adopted a resolu-tion on the change of conditions of issue of series A company bonds from 2010. Bioton is a Polish biotechnology firm, involved in medicines production. It was founded in 1989, and since Aug, 2004 is active as a pub-lic company, while since March, 2005, listed on the Warsaw bourse.

Inpro’s Board takes conservative route, retains profit, votes against dividend payout The AGM of housing development compa-ny Inpro decided not to pay out a dividend from the firm`s 2012 profit, even though the management board had recommended the dividend at PLN 0.11 per share, the company announced. The whole profit at PLN 17.47 mn will be spent on reserve capi-tal. - The company`s financial situation is good, and the net profit achieved in 2012 is satisfactory. However, the shareholder s general meeting, after profound analysis of the firm`s situation, decided to retain prof-its, and not pay them out, the communique says. Inpro was incorporated in 1987 and is active in Trinity city, and has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 2011.

Hawet telecom in 493 million pln project for Mazovia region Hawe and its subsidiary Otwarte Mazowieckie Sieci Szerokopasmowe have signed with Alcatel-Lucent Polska and TP Teltech agreements about cooperation with a view to finance and subcontract the proj-ect Internet for the Mazovia Region, Hawe announced. This contract means the joint-venture cooperation is worth of over PLN 493 million. The project is designed to deliv-er broadband network, distribution knots and other infrastructure. The network`s length is set at 3600 kilometers and over 1000 kilometers of NextGeneration Access network. The firms signed a number of sub-contracts that define constructing rules and building the optical-fibres infrastructure. The capital group of Hawe has its complex operator service, basing of the optical-fibres infrastructure for telecommunication, elec-troenergy sectors and for authorities. The company is listed on WSE since 2007. In

2012, the firm posted PLN 108mn of con-solidated revenue. Hawe holds 100% share in the company Otwarte Mazowieckie Sieci Szerokopasmowe.

Wojas looks to swoop in on Gino Rossi, as firm struggles with financing President and key shareholder of shoemaker Wojas, Mr. Wieslaw Wojas, is considering increasing the capital involvement in relat-ed company Gino Rossi, where he holds di-rectly and indirectly 9.5% shares, according to Parkiet daily. He added that currently the firm was in talks on that issue, but stressed it was too early to lay out precise conceptions. - Nobody knows if Wojas cares about merger with Gino Rossi or with its shoes pillar only. The group also includes fashion firm Simple, which may be sold, if Gino Rossi’s manage-ment board is not able to offer bonds worth of PLN 30mn by the end of June,he said. Wojas is one of the biggest shoes producer in Poland, listed on the Warsaw bourse since 2008. The firms has at its disposal 140 branded showrooms in Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. Since 2012, the company has posted PLN 167 mn of consolidated revenue.

Platinum Properties moves to main WSE market, expands in RussiaPlatinum Properties Group, listed on the alternative market New Connect, will debut on the main market of the Warsaw bourse on June 25. The firm will trade about 640.5 mn shares worth PLN 0.10 per piece. In May, PPG announced that its intention to move from the low-volume NewConnect market to the main market and confirmed earlier declarations about launching construction work in Russia by end of 2013. Platinum Properties Group S.A. is a holding of firms dealing with the investment, trading and property management. The firm is listed on NewConnect since October, 2009.

Ronson now has 900 flats to sell, after launch of 3rd stage of Verdis project Ronson Development launched 140 hous-ing units in the range of the third stage of Verdis project, located in Wola district, in Warsaw, the company announced. Thus, the developer offering includes 900 flats. In June, Ronson launched several Warsaw investments e.g. Sakura III, Espresso II and Verdis III. The project Verdis consists of 352 flats in eight buildings, which are to be con-structed in four stages at Sowinski Street in Wola district. Ronson is a housing develop-ment company, listed on the Warsaw bourse since 2007. In 2012, the company posted PLN 199 mn of consolidated revenue.

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Murapol may land strategic investor as precursor to debut on WSE in autumn Murapol is in talks with a strategic inves-tor, which may take up a 15% stake and help the company to expand on foreign markets, the firm`s deputy CEO Michal Sapota an-nounced. The company is interested in ac-quisitions of smaller firms, and its debut on the Warsaw bourse is possible still in late autumn of this year. Murapol expects revenues to grow about 25% per year and reach a net profit within the next 2-3 years. The company counts on selling 1300 flats in 2013. Murapol S.A. is a nationwide develop-er. Currently, the firm develops projects in Krakow, Wroclaw, Katowice, Gdansk and in Warsaw. The firm`s revenue in 2012 reached PLN 171 mn.

Dom Development to start 2-3 proj-ects per quarter, including luxury flats for Warsaw Dom Development confirmed its plan to launch two or three projects per quarter. Aside from the new investment in Wroclaw, the offering will be drawn up to have 2,000 housing units, the company`s CEO Jaroslaw Szanajca told the ISBnews agency. Dom Development purchased a land plot in Warsaw`s Stary Mokotow district and may kick off a luxury investment for 140 flats in the autumn of next year, Sznajca said. The firm`s CFO Janusz Zalewski said that flats deliveries were in line with earlier plans. Previously, Dom Development assessed that it would hand over 1650 flats this year. Since 2006, Dom Development is one of the biggest housing developers in Poland, listed on the Warsaw bourse. The leading share-holder is Dom Development B.V., with its official headquarters in Rotterdam, holding 61.91% shares.

Gant extends bond subscription period - trying to raise PLN 195 million Gant Development will extend the term of the subscription for bonds of BF series, with a nominal value of PLN 195mn, to July 2, the company announced. The three-year bonds will yield interest based on WIBOR 3M, plus a margin of 650bps. Gant Development is a holding of several dozen special purpose vehicles in residential development sector. Activities are focused on housing develop-ment, a bit of commercial development, and property management. It is present in sev-en Polish cities: Warsaw, Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdansk, Cracow, Opole and Polanica Zdroj. The company has been struggling with a heavy debt load, used primarily to expand rapidly nationally across Poland. A new

shareholder has bought a large stake, and several key managment changes have taken place during spring 2013.

Mostostal Warszawa starts group lay-offs of 620 employers Mostostal Warszawa launched group layoff proceedings of 620 employers, the company announced. The firm will terminate staff`s employment by June 30, 2013. The firm ex-plained its decision by the need to adjust the employment levels to the firm`s current value of contracts, and the tough economic situation, which the construction sector in Poland has to face. Mostostal Warszawa SA is active on all basic construction branches, and the firm`s services cover investment s execution and carrying out turn-key proj-ects for domestic and foreign partners.

Polimex-Mostostal slims down, will sell ZZA Czestochowa for PLN 48 mln Polimex-Mostostal has a contract to sell one of its businesses which operates in the field of corrosion protection i.e. Zaklad Zabezpieczen Antykorozyjnych in Czestochowa and Ocynkownia Slask - for PLN 47.88 mln, Polimex announced. Polimex-Mostostal is a leader in the construction sector on the Polish market. In 2012 the firm s revenue amounted to PLN 4.1 billion. In December, 2012, it signed an agreement with its finan-cial creditors to stop the seizure of the firm s assets, and an additional agreement about further financing conditions. The agreement assumes the company s capital will increase by PLN 250 m ln at minimum, converting bonds of PLN 250 mln into shares, cost reduc-tions, and the divestiture of non-core assets (PLN 900mn) by the end of 2015. This sale is considered a non-core asset.

UKE`s president signs decision to assign 1800MHz frequencies for LTE services The president of the Office of Electronic Communication (UKE) Magdalena Gaj has signed a decision about booking frequen-cies in the range of 1729.9 – 1754.9 MHz and 1824.9 – 1849.9 MHz for P4 (three reservations) and T-mobile (two reservations) mobile operators, UKE has announced in a communique. Resources of 1800 MHz allow delivering cordless servic-es in the most modern standard LTE (Long Term Evolution) with transmission speed data to 100Mb per second, the communique said. P4 and T-mobile are obliged to start us-ing frequencies within 12 months since the decision takes effect. However, the firms should pay declared in the tender at PLN 498mn in the case of P4 and PLN 453.53mn in the case of T-Mobile.

MNI Telecom signs agreement with TPSA group MNI Telecom, together with its mother-company MNI, has signed an agreement with telecom incumbent TPSA and its mo-bile subsidiary PTK Centertel, the company announced. The agreement will remit the debt collector s proceedings, lifting the blockade of MNI Telecom`s bank account, restoring business relationships between TPSA and firms from MNI Group, MNI has said. Last year, the Polish communica-tion firm TPSA submitted a court motion to obtain PLN 58.86 mn of interest from MNI Telecom due to the harm made by MNI Telecom.

Czerwona Torebka to kick off first foodstuff shops at end of year Shopping centres operator Czerwona Torebka plans to launch the first outposts of its new network of cheap foodstuff shops under the brand of Czerwona Torebka at the end of this year, the company`s CEO Pawel Ciszek has announced. In line with the company`s management board`s tar-get, the new network`s shops will be opened both in Czerwona Torebka shop-ping arcades and outside of them. In recent months, Czerwona Torebka has widen its activity through purchasing of internet shop Merlin.pl (the company has the antimonopoly watchdog`s approval and the investment agreement) and a con-vencience shops network Malpka Express (the process is at the stage of a letter of intent). Czerwona Torebka network is to be the nationwide platform for the re-tail trade, basing on standardized shop-ping centres. The group plans to build 1,882 shopping arcades under the brand Czerwona Torebka by 2021, with the total area of 1,211.5 thousand squere metres. The investment`s cost is estimated at PLN 4.5 bn.

Meridian Properties postpones its IPO on WSE due to market turmoilMeridian Properties N.V. has postponed its initial public offering til the autumn, as-suming that “the capital market’s situation will stabilize by this time”, the company announced.

The firm explains the current decision by “the significant deterioration of market conditions in recent days and increasing levels of uncertainty on global and Polish capital markets.”

Meridian Properties NV, a Dutch Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) focused on high-quality real estate assets in Emerging Europe, intended to debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in an initial

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public offering. The EUR 200mn offering was planned to be completed by the middle of July.

The company planned to use the of-fering proceeds at IPO to acquire a pre-identified and strategically diversified portfolio.

Meridian Properties would be the only REIT listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange focused on investing in and actively man-aging a diversified property portfolio with-in Emerging Europe comprised of high-quality, stabilized, income producing real estate assets in attractive locations with international tenants and institutional quality leases.

Kino Polska takes over stake in FilmBox and widens its activity for new countries Media company Kino Polska TV intends to broaden its activity on international markets, the company said. The firm also

said it will take over shares in FilmBox`s subsidiaries, responsible for film chan-nels distribution in CEE countries. Hence, the company plans to increase its capital through an issue of 6-7mn shares, exclud-ing a rights issue, and to cover the newly issued shares by contribution in kind and by contribution of 100% shares of Filmbox International Ltd. The firm`s management board is to propose setting the issue price at no more than PLN 17, to its EGM. Kino Polska TV is a media group that deals es-pecially with: broadcasting and produc-tion of TV programmes, the distribution, publishing activity, the film production, reconstructing and archiving masterpieces of Polish cinematography.

AviaAM Leasing nearly finalizes IPO, raising about 110 million pln AviaAM Leasing, an integrated global aviation group, has set the offer price of

its IPO at PLN 8. In the offering 13 857 790 newly issued shares and 160 964 exist-ing shares have been preliminarily allot-ted to investors, the firm has announced. The total value of AviaAM Leasing initial public offering is expected to amount to PLN 112.2mn (vs. originally targeted over PLN 220mn), provided that all of the pre-liminary allotted shares are subscribed at the determined offer price, paid and allotted. The firm`s board chairman Gediminas Ziemelis said that proceeds from the offering expected to amount to PLN 110.9mn will allow the firm to con-tinue its rapid growth and implement its strategy. After the IPO new share-holders will hold 32.37% of share capital. Existing shareholders (except Gediminas Ziemelis) will be bound by a year-long lock-up period from the date of the debut. Subscription period for the offer shares by institutional investors is scheduled for Jun 14-18. The announcement of the final number of the offer shares and the allot-ment between retail and institutional in-vestors is planned for Jun 18. Settlement of the offering is scheduled around Jun 25. Debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, which will be the sole listing market for company`s securities, is expected around Jun 28, 2013.

AviaAM Leasing is an integrated global aviation group specialising in the acquisition, lease trade and manage-ment of used commercial aircraft. The Group focuses on high-growth CIS and Russian markets and is one of the major lessors in this region engaged in leasing mid-life narrowbody and regional jets. Headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, the Group also provides consulting, fleet management and remarketing services to third parties.

ZUE counts on significant foreign contract before end of year Construction and engineering company ZUE counts on achieving a foreign assign-ment before the end of the year, which would be an interesting position in the group s portfolio and would open new in-teresting markets, according to the firm`s CEO Wieslaw Nowak comments in Parkiet daily. Nowak declared that ZUE wanted to report the group s positive result this year, but admitted that he did not see any chances for a rapid return to high margins due to the financial crash. ZUE is a general contractor, and the firms also provides complex construction services and mod-ernizing tram and rail lines. Its consoli-dated revenue on sales reached PLN 518.14 mn in 2012.

Marvipol to issue 3-year bonds worth of PLN 45 million to refinance maturing bondsHousing construction company Marvipol plans to issue on June 20 three-year bonds (of K and L series), in the range of agreements signed with Pioneer Pekao s funds, worth PLN 45mn in total. Proceeds from the bond issues will be spent on buy-back of other bonds, worth PLN 55.4mn, which mature in June and July, 2013. Part of the proceeds will be used for the invest-ment in Hill Park Apartments in Mlociny district, in Warsaw, the company said. The firm`s CEO Mariusz Ksiazek said that the company was in talks with institu-tional investors, interested in the firm`s new share issue. Marvipol is a developer, listed on the Warsaw bourse since 2008, specializing in supplying housing flats and apartments on Warsaw market. The company also provides asset manage-ment services and develops office centres. Other unrelated activities include auto sales and ownership of a network of car wash stations.

Uboat Line courts strategic investor prior to move to WSE main market Ferry operator Uboat Line plans to switch to the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) main market from the alternative NewConnect in the middle of 2014, the CEO Grzegorz Misiag told the ISBnews agency. Before that move, the company would like to find a foreign strategic in-vestor that could take up a new share is-sue, the president added. Uboat Line was set up in 2008. It focuses on the search for and reservation of ferry connections on marine routes in the Baltic Sea, Northern Sea, Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea ba-sins. In this sector, it is the current mar-ket leader.

Budimex in 30 million pln deal to construct trolleybus depot Construction company Budimex`s offer, worth PLN 39.9mn gross, was acknowl-edged to be the most attractive in the ten-der for construction of trolleybus depot at Grygowa Street in Lublin, the Municipal Council in Lublin has announced. The tender`s procedure was conducted in an open method, 17 bidders submitted offers, while Aldesa s offering was rejected. The price of 95% and the guarantee period of 5% were the criteria of choosing the best offer. The orderer intends to spend near PLN 60mn to carry out the investment. The investment is planned to be complet-ed by November, 2015. n

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At a snail farm in lake-rich northern Poland, it is easy to accidentally step on a mollusc making a break for freedom. “You have to secure the area to stop the snails from fleeing, because they’re very clever about it”, says Mariola Pilat, 35, president of Snails Garden in the village of Krasin, and one of a growing number of breeders across the country.

“They always find a hole to sneak through, always,” she says, adding that a snail’s pace is surprisingly quick.

Despite the fugitives, snail farming - mostly for gastronomic ends - has advan-tages over traditional livestock farming, says farm owner Grzegorz Skalmowski, 42, whose office is in a snail-shaped cottage. He points to the minimal investment and land required as one reason for the gradu-ally growing interest in the niche business of breeding the black-toothed, rain-loving hermaphrodite.

“When I started a decade ago there were three breeders, now it’s 300”, he says, add-ing that most of them are just starting out.

An industry heavyweight, Skalmowski breeds up to 50 tonnes of snails a year - or five million individual gastropods - on the farm, making for an impressive snail-to-human ratio in the village of a couple of hundred people.

He also trains other people around the country and abroad to breed two kinds of Helix aspersa garden snails for him - the small grey Muller and large grey Maxima - bringing in an extra 40 tonnes a year. Most of the 90 tonnes of snails produced are ex-ported to Spain, Italy and France.

The farm sells the majority of the snails live - before the inevitable deadly toss into boiling water - but also offers canned meat, pearly white snail’s egg caviar and - not for the faint-hearted - slime facial cream.

While still a small branch of the overall animal farming industry, snail breeding has a lot of potential for further develop-ment in Poland, industry sources say.

When it comes to other animals, like cattle, pigs, poultry, there is huge compe-tition here, says Maciej Ligaszewski from the National Research Institute of Animal Production. But snail breeding is still something new and original in Poland, which sends most of its slimy molluscs to France to be swathed in garlic butter and served out of their spiralled shells.

France imports 95% of its snail con-sumption, of which 9% comes from Poland, according to trade figures from the Polish embassy in Paris.

Poland is one of many exporters in an industry spread wide from Turkey and Hungary to Indonesia, but its share of the market is growing, the embassy says.

In 2011, Poland exported 282 tonnes of snails worth close to Euro 1.1mil, accord-ing to the Central Statistical Office.

Food on the tablePoland has been shipping snails to France for decades, but the wild kind: Helix poma-tia or winniczek in Polish, also known as the famous Burgundy snail after the French region. “The French escargot, there’s almost none left, for a simple reason: pesticides,” says Jacques Pommier, 84, organiser of an annual snail-guzzling festival in France. “That’s why they found snails in Eastern Europe that are exactly like the Burgundy escargot.”

The vineyard snail is protected today in Poland: it can only be picked from late April to the end of May in certain areas and amounts, and at a minimum length of 3cm. This puts gatherers at the weather’s mer-cy, says Snails Garden employee Tomasz Kuchta, 36, as he traipses around a field in rain boots, clutching a bucket whose con-tents are crawling towards the rim.

“They can probably sense they’re headed for the dinner table,” Kuchta jokes, adding that the shy mollusc famous for retreating into its shell likes its personal space and scales the sides to escape the crowd.

While Poland’s snail farming is major-ity export, the tiny creature with a flavour akin to mushroom or chicken was once a

fixture of the Polish kitchen. “Poland’s first cookbook (from 1682) has a handful of snail recipes, and - this is interesting - more than the number devoted to pork”, says food historian Jaroslaw Dumanowski. The end of snail-eating and a general col-lapse of Polish cuisine came about after WWII, given the poverty and communist disdain for anything rich or fancy, he says.

But with today’s higher standard of living, Dumanowski says snails are making a come-back on menus and supermarket shelves, if still inching their way into home cooking.

Hoping for a revival of demand at home, farmer Skalmowski notes that today’s din-ner table is no stranger to more unusual dishes. “We eat flaki or beef tripe stew, no? And we also have czernina (soup made from animal blood), right? For others it’s gross but we eat it”, he says.

Pilat chimes in: “And we make pierogi dumplings with pig lungs. Those are our goodies.”

Source: AFP

Food Exports

Poland’s snail farms inch towards huge potential

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In the continuing battle against tax fraud, starting from 2015, EU member states will automatically exchange infor-mation on most income sources of their citizens, Polish daily Rzeczpospolita reported.

“This will be another weapon to de-cidedly fight tax evasion,” Taxation and Customs Union Commissioner, Algirdas Semeta, told international media.

The spreading tendency to avoid pay-ing VAT and income taxes has triggered the European Commission to appeal for joint

efforts by EU member states to curb the phenomenon.

Subsequently   in December 2012, the EC adopted a regulation laying down detailed rules for implementing the so-called Council Directive 2011/16/EU. It includes various provisions on the standard forms and means of communication that member states will use when exchanging information.

Originally the exchange was to cover such information as income from wages, insurance policies, pensions and wealth. However, in June 2013, the Commission

proposed extending the automatic ex-change of information between EU tax administrations to include information on allocated dividends, capital income and bank account balances. The new pro-visions will enter into force on January 1, 2015.

Poland is in the process of implementing the directive. The Polish Parliament held the first reading on June 13, 2013.

The new law will take the form of an amendment to the existing laws on fiscal controls and the tax law. n

The Polish Ministry of Finance has issued new recommendations for local tax offices in an ef-fort to curb tax evasion and ensure appropri-ate tax inflows. The recommendations also facilitate company registration and suggest improved cooperation with entrepreneurs.

“The Ministry of Finance has laid out the following aims: ensuring tax inflows in accordance with budget levels, facilitating company registration, improved cooperation with entrepreneurs, removing administra-tion barriers and the provision of a proficient tax administration service,” Polish Daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna reported.

The  Polish Treasury is targeting several types of enterprise where tax fraud is al-legedly most common. Ready-made com-panies are high on the priority list.

A form of tax fraud highlighted by the authorities centres on the submittal of tax declarations on a quarterly basis, de-spite having opted for the monthly option when registering the company. This can fool fiscal offices into believing that the company does not generate substantial taxable revenues. Such a company is sold-on by the fraudsters and its new owners then face the repercussions of the inevi-table tax audit.

Companies operating through virtual offices will also be closely monitored. Their lack of physical address, on-site employees and e-mail, frequently render them diffi-cult to monitor and correspond with.

Companies registered for less than 24 months, those that provide intangible or

building services, and self-employed in-dividuals who do not file tax declarations regularly, are also likely to be targeted.

“The Ministry of Finance has listed fake invoices, carousel fraud and trading in fuel, scrap metals and mobile phones as tax evasion threats,” Dziennik Gazeta Prawna added.

Guidelines on how and where to imple-ment intensified tax controls were sent to the heads of local tax chambers and of-fices. Entrepreneurs should expect inves-tigations particularly if they collect large tax refunds.

The government further expects tax of-fice employees to improve collection and recovery by assigning tax liabilities on time. n

EU Taxes

Poland joins EU in battle against tax crime

Tax fraud to be tackled by Polish government

FDI Poland Investor Awards17 October 2013

Hotel Intercontinental, Warsaw

www.FDIPolandAwards.pl

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Funding for agriculture, fishing, and economically-weak regions is to be maintained in the EU’s next long-term budget. Overall spending, though, has been capped. So how will the member states balance the equation?

For months now, member states have been discussing the the EU’s long-term budget for the years 2014 to 2020. Most countries want to spend less than the amounts pro-posed by the European Commission and the European Parliament.

New role for the EU ParliamentThe 2007 Lisbon treaty gives the European Parliament the right to  take part  in the budget negotiations for the first time. Before that, EU leaders simply set the bud-get amongst themselves.

However, the Parliament cannot pro-pose a budget of its own: it can only accept or reject the EU leaders’ proposals, in full. The upper limit will therefore remain at one trillion euros for seven years.

In future, though, budgeted funds  that have not been spent and are not tied to a particular subsidy could be  made avail-able  for  other projects. Until now, any

money left over had to go straight back to the member states.

A  large part of  the EU budget  is used to subsidize agriculture (39 percent), as well as  to provide the bloc’s economically weak areas with so-called structural funds (46 percent).  It  differs substantially from the national budgets in that it is not fi-nanced through taxes, but from the mem-ber states’ payment contributions and cus-toms revenue.

EAfter taking off around six percent for administrative costs, funds tied to a par-ticular subsidy or project - agriculture, for

example - are allocated back to the member states  for reinvestment in that particular area.

Who pays what?In absolute terms, Germany contributes the most of any EU member. Europe’s big-gest economy paid 9 billion euros into the EU budget  in 2012. Poland is the biggest

net recipient of funds:  that same year, it received 11 billion euros.

Per capita, though,  it is the Danes who pay the most: 150 euros per head per year. For Germans, this figure is 110 euros. Hungarians are the biggest per capita net recipients, at 442 euros per head.

The bailout fund, set up to deal with the effects of the financial crisis on Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Ireland and Spain,  is only partially funded by the EU bud-get. The lion’s share  of the ESM fund is made up  of separate payments  from  the Eurozone member countries.

Net contributors tighten purse-stringsIn February 2013, EU leaders agreed to cap the 2014 - 2020 budget at 908 billion euros - a net reduction of around three percent. The agreement followed intense pressure from Germany and the UK.

It remains to be seen  whether this cap will actually be honored as, due to a techni-cality, the real cap stands at 960 billion eu-ros. Then there’s another, ostensibly sepa-rate  pot of money to be included,  which brings the figure closer to 997 billion - just under one trillion euros.

Automatic inflation adjustment, an-other special feature of the EU budget, must also be calculated. This is current-ly around two percent per annum.

The EU will have spent a total of 925 bil-lion euros in 2007 to 2013. That’s 55 billion

euros more than was originally planned in 2006.

EU budget experts therefore believe that the numbers for the next budget are not set in stone. The EU planned to spend 143 billion euros this year. Already, though, there’s a shortfall of 5 billion euros that  the EU Parliament, the Council and the Commission are struggling to find. n

EU Budget

Euro 1,000,000,000,000 budget set to benefit Poland the most

“It remains to be seen whether this cap will actually be honored as, due to a technicality, the real cap stands at 960 billion euros. 

Then there’s another, ostensibly separate pot of money to be included, which brings the figure closer to 997 billion

– just under one trillion euros. ”

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The annual conference of the Association of Business Service Leaders, held this year in Lodz in mid-June, brought in record numbers of attendees, reflecting the growing economic impor-tance and political clout of the business-services sector.

Also refered to as outsourcing or BPO, the sector includes the fast-expanding “shared services” sector, and now employs more than 110,000 people in 400 modern office centers across Poland. Projections by ABSL show that by the end of the year this will rise to around 120,000 people. The sector is now larger than Poland’s fabled coal-mining industry.

“I’ve never seen such great success in Poland, but so little known. In 1989, the big-gest employer in Poland was the coal mining

industry, which employed about 450,000 people. Today that sector is less than the business services sector. It’s an unimagi-nable scale of change that has taken place in Poland during the last 24 years”, said former Prime Minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki.

He was a guest at ABSL’s two-day con-gress, hosted by the city of Lodz. The meeting discussed, among others, the new-est ABSL report entitled “Business services sector in Poland 2013”. It shows that for companies in the modern business services sector Poland is “a mature and attractive” location, but still having large reserves and prospects for further development.

Since January 2012, Poland has created 70 new business service centers. Most of them - more than 60 percent - have been established by large, foreign investors who are just entering the Polish market. In the past several month, companies such as Samsung, Bayer, Qatar Airways, Brown Brothers Harriman, Goldman Sachs and Euroclear have invested in substantial ser-vice centers in Poland, in multiple cities.

BPO and Shared Services

ABSL outsourcing association draws record numbers to Łódź

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The newest entrant is Amazon, which plans to set up an IT services center in Warsaw.

And it’s not only new investors coming in, but also steady expansion among the exist-ing service centers. “The existing 400 cen-ters will employ on average at least another dozen people, meaning thousands of new jobs in the country. We expect that by the end of 2013, the number of employees in for-eign business service centers in Poland will reach 115,000 to 120,000 people”, said the vice president of ABSL, Marek Grodziński.

ABSL representatives also pointed out that in Poland there are also factors that inhibit the development of the sector. Krystian Bestry, another vice-president at ABSL and director at Infosys in Lodz, said among other things that there should be changes in the law that would allow normal operation on Sundays and public holidays.

“Our employees are resting when the country is on holiday. Yet all countries have roughly the same number of days off, so it is in some way in balance. We are fighting for changes to the current labor law, which was written by some unions in the manu-facturing sector, and make the changes that make it easier for us to cooperate with overseas customers”, said Bestry.

Jolanta Jaworska, an ABSL Board member and top IBM executive, drew at-tention to the fact that companies in the

business services can not check the “crimi-nal records” of candidates, something that is generally required by all U.S. financial services firms.

“The financial and information technol-ogy sectors make these checks a standard in most European countries. In Poland, it is however possible to do background checks on taxi drivers, security guards or the entire public administration, but not for employees in our sector. And without this basic condition, clients who come to us are often not even willing to talk about coop-eration. They want to have the confidence that the people who are supporting them are not burdened by any sins of the past”, said Jaworski.

According to the president of ABSL, Jacek Levernes, a few changes and adjust-ments (such as shortening of the registra-tion of investment funds and enabling the preparation of the registration dossier in English) would lead to a further increase in the growth of the business services sector.

“We know that these changes will not be easy. But we are trying to get the wid-est possible support for these ideas. If they could be implemented, we will be able to compete with the world leaders in our in-dustry, that is, Luxembourg and Ireland “- said Levernes. n

BPO and Shared Services

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Piastow Office Centre opensThe first of the three buildings of the Piastow Office Center complex has opened its doors, with first tenants signed up. Another 4,000 sqm is waiting for new in-terested customers, most likely from the BPO/Shared Services sector, which the city of Szczecin is targeting as sector for growth. The total net area of Piast Office Centre (21,000 sqm) will be located in three buildings. Realkapital Szczecin Sp. z o.o. (backed by Norwegian capital) is the investor.

Slupsk SEZ gets new investors In the second quarter, Pomeranian Regional Development Agency which manages the Slupsk Special Economic Zone, issued new permits to conduct busi-ness in the zone for the two companies. Danish company Poldan Net and Albatros Aluminum, a company with Polish capital, will invest in the SEZ. Poldan Net is one of the largest manufacturers of fishing equip-ment. The company produces fishing nets, floating, lead, polyester and polypropylene ropes. Albatros Aluminium Company has already received a third authorization to operate in the Zone. By August 2014, the investor will build a third production hall with modern facilities for manufacturing aluminum sections.

Chinese in Technology Parks At the annual Katowice Economic Forum, Chinese guests spoke highly of their cooperation with Poland. Gao Xiqing, head of China Investment Corporation, the world’s largest investment fund ad-ministrating the resources from China’s currency reserves, appreciated Poland’s openness towards Chinese investors. Dariusz Bogdan, Deputy Minister of Economy, pointed out that relations be-tween Poland and China have been devel-oping dynamically over the last few years. Last year’s forum at PAIZ was attended

by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and rep-resentatives of over 1,700 Chinese and Polish companies. “At the forum, we have worked out the propositions for develop-ment of our cooperation, which among others will involve creation of a Chinese technological park in one of Poland’s special economic zones -the Deputy Minister said. Mr Bogdan emphasized. As a part of the forum, PAIiIZ awarded the Chinese Business Leader of the Year 2013. The prize went to Li Xiaobo, the CEO of Warsaw branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).

Solvay starts construction of ultra-modern silica manufacturing plant At a ceremony in Wroclawek with the participation of the Belgian Ambassador, President of Wroclawek and representa-tives of local authorities, Solvay launched the construction of a new, ultra-mod-ern plant for the production of Highly Dispersible Silica -HDS. The new facility is an investment worth EUR 75 million, which will create 50 new jobs and will in-crease by 85,000 tons per year Solvay’s to-tal capacity to produce highly dispersible silica. The plant, located on an eight-hect-are site in central Poland, close to the main power centers and the recently launched Warsaw-Gdansk highway, will offer lo-gistical benefits for Solvay’s customers from Eastern Europe and Russia. The plant will be located in the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone. “Our new plant in Wroclawek epitomizes Solvay’s plans for the future and emphasizes that we want to support the development of our customers in Eastern Europe, Russia and around the world”, says Tom Benner, CEO of Solvay Silica. “The new facility will al-low us to considerably increase the pro-duction capacity of our innovative, world leading HDS technologies, including a new generation of products. “ n

Danish company Espan officially opened its fish processing plant in June, after agreeing to the new investment in October 2011. The firm bought more than 15,000 sm of land in the sub-zone “Koszalin” of the Zachodniopomorski region. The plant now employs 42 people in one shift of production, and plans to launch a sec-ond shift. Daily performance of the plant enables processing of 18 tonnes of raw material. The main activity of Espan is

the production of fresh fillets of saltwater fish based on Baltic cod. The products are sold in supermarkets in several European countries. n

FDI Investment News

Lubuskie gets first investor in Industrial ParkPolish-German company Darstal Sp. z o.o., a production firm in machining iron and steel castings, will invest PLN 13 million, and hire 80 to 100 people. Operations will be set up in the Lubuskie Industrial and Technological Park in Zielona Gora. New investment has no effect on the reduction of production in the two existing Polish plants.

Ericpol begins construction of its new headquarters in Lodz Eighteen months after receiving permis-sion to operate in the Lodz SEZ and buying land on the former site of Olympia swim-ming pool in Lodz, the largest ICT com-pany in the city - Ericpol – has begun con-struction of its new HQ. The office block will be built in the Lodz Special Economic Zone. In place of the old pool Olimpia will be developed a four-storey building with an underground garage, and the estimat-ed value of the investment is over PLN 55 million. The construction works are to be completed within 18 months and the planned completion of the building for use will be in the first quarter of 2015.

Drugs firms expands in Strykow in 125 million pln dealLEK S.A. has been authorized to conduct business in the Lodz Special Economic Zone (Subzone Strykow). Lek already operates a Manufacturing and Logistics Centre producing generic drugs. The new investment will involve the construction of a new building and expansion of ex-isting facilities and warehouse logistics with road and technical infrastructure. In connection with the new investment, the company expects to incur capital expenditures of at least PLN 125 million and employ at least 130 new employees. Ultimately, including maintained work-ers, employment at the plant in Strykow is to reach at least 373 employees.

First International Festival of Place-Marketing: Welcome Festival Held on June 24-25 at the National Stadium in Warsaw, the festival is an international meeting of those involved in building brands of places and cities - representatives of public administra-tion, business, academia and experts in the field of marketing. On the second day of the festival, Awards were given to cities and regions with the most ef-fective promotional strategies. n

Danish fish firm expands in Koszalin

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The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) is considering whether to lend Poland’s Energa around $250 million to fund the development of a smart grid. A posting on the bank’s web-site indicates that the loan has already been approved by the EBRD’s board but has yet to be signed off. The loan period is given as 15 years, with the EBRD expecting financing to be “partly syndicated”.

Upgrades to Energa’s distribution net-work are expected to cost as much as PLN 5.2 billion between 2012 and 2015, with spending intended to “implement smart grid solutions, strengthen the distribution network of Energa [Gdansk, Poland] … and enable the distribution grid to connect new renewable energy producers”.

Through its smart grid strategy, the utility aims to provide smart meters to 100% of the

homes and businesses it serves, which should go some way towards helping Poland meet an EU requirement that 80% of homes and busi-nesses in the region be covered by 2020.

“This will send a strong demonstration signal that smart grid investments in the electricity distribution sector are a viable investment strategy in Poland, leading to significant energy efficiency improve-ments,” said the EBRD. According to EBRD’s documentation, Energa is also in discussions with the European Investment Bank on parallel financing for the project.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance reckons the Polish smart metering market could be worth as much as $2.8 billion by 2020 and describes Energa’s planned investments as signifying “a step change in the level of smart grid investment in the region”, ac-cording to Bloomberg News. n

The current complex on Zygmuntowskie Avenue is to be changed in one of the most modern swimming pools in the country, with a new swimming pool complex to be divided into three parts. The first one in-cludes recreational swimming pools and water slides, and the second part is a new, 50 meter long swimming pool with stands for 2,100 seats and outdoor swimming

pool, and the third part a sauna, well-ness and rehabilitation complex, winter garden, fitness, VIP complex, and skate rental for the adjacent indoor ice rink. The project has received funding of EUR 45 million from the Ministry of Sport and Tourism. The entire cost will be approxi-mately PLN 100 million. It is to be ready by the autumn of 2014. n

FDI Investment News

Pln 100 million for swimming pool complex in Lublin

EBRD in $ 250 million power grid deal?

Germany manufacturer in Euro 10 million expansion In Glogow the Sitech company offi-cially opened a new manufacturing facility. Sitech Sp. z o.o. specializes in the production of metal structures for car seats of Volkswagen Group. The company has operated in Poland since 1998 within Legnica Special Economic Zone in Polkowice. Currently Sitech is one of the most innovative companies in Poland, developing a modern and competitive components for the auto-motive industry. The plant in Glogow is its second location in Poland. There are currently over five plants of Sitech: in Polkowice, Wolfsburg, Hanover, Emden and Chinese Dongchan. The invest-ment project is worth a total of EUR 10 million and will employ 200 people.

Polaris invests in Opole Polaris Poland Sp. z o.o. company, which is a part of Polaris Industries Inc., has received a permit to operate in the Walbrzych Special Economic Zone in Opole. The new plant will be the first location of the company in Europe manufacturing all-terrain vehicles. “At the core of Polaris long-term growth strategy is a global devel-opment. Construction of production facilities serving local markets in dif-ferent parts of the world is an integral part of our drive to become a global market leader”, said the company’s CEO Scott Wine. “Our new plant in Poland will play the role of providing production capacity that we need in the field of off-road vehicles and sup-plying locally produced products to European markets.”

Terza Polska Promotoin For the seventh time, a competition for the best master’s thesis on the promo-tion of Poland will be held: Teraz Polska Promocja. The winners will receive cash prizes with a total value of PLN 50,000, publications, internships and train-ings. The works can be submitted until October 18, 2013. Foundation for Polish Promotional Emblem “Teraz Polska”, the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, Polish Tourist Organization and the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development for the seventh time organize competition for the best thesis “Teraz Polska Promocja”. The theme is broadly the promotion of Poland. n

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Delegation from Eastern Poland on Shared Services conference in Prague On 21-23 May in Prague, the “13th Annual Shared Services & Outsourcing Week” conference was held, gathering shared services and outsourcing sector profes-sionals. The event was attended by repre-sentatives of local government units from Eastern Poland voivodships. “13th Annual European Shared Services & Outsourcing Week” is the leading European Forum on education and networking for shared services and outsourcing as well as pur-chase orders of IT, HR and finance. The

conference brought together about 500 rep-resentatives of the regions and companies from Europe, USA, Canada, Latin America, Asia and North Africa. During the confer-ence were held many programme sessions, debates, seminars, discussions and indi-vidual meetings. Delegation from Eastern Poland (Bialystok, Kielce, Lublin, Olsztyn and Rzeszow) presented the economic and investment potential of macro region ten-ders in terms of BPO and SSC offers. The mission was financed from the Eastern Poland Economic Promotion Programme, conducted by PAIZ. n

Inner Mongolia Delegation On May 27, PAIZ hosted a delegation from Inner Mongolia with Mrs. Wang Ruihua, Director of the Department of Commerce of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at the helm. The delegation was accompanied by the companies operating in the region. Members of the delegation took part in the economic seminar and individual meetings with the representatives of Polish compa-nies. The moderator of the seminar was director Wang Ruihua. The guest speak-ers were: Zheng Yiping, Deputy Director,

Department of Finance, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Marek Korowajczyk, Deputy Director of Promotion and Bilateral Cooperation Department in Ministry of Economy and President of PAIiIZ, S.awomir Majman. The seminar ended with a pre-sentation of Inner Mongolia Dashengye Cashmere Product. After the official part the b2b session was held. Chinese compa-nies included in the mission represented the food industry, textile, mining (granite), production and sales of metal products, tourism and biotechnology. n

FDI Investment News

The Poland - Thailand Business Forum will be held on July 4th of this year (Thursday) in Warsaw, accompanied by a visit to Poland of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, Mrs Yingluck Shinawatra. The official opening of the Forum will be attended by Prime Ministers of both

countries. Dozens of representatives of Thai companies and the most important representatives from the government of Thailand will come to Poland for business development purposes, particularly com-panies from the food, automotive, energy, construction, and tourism sectors n

Poland-Thailand ForumNew investment in Lodz Economic ZoneHutchinson Poland Sp. z o.o. has been authorized to produce profiles of TPV. TPV profiles are products such as pre-cise seals, low and high pressure rubber seals, and which are found in hoses, V belts, car gaskets, anti-vibration parts and car parts. The investment – of at least 75 million pln - will lead to 250 new jobs in Lodz and clients include global leaders of the automotive industry.

Factory of Weyerhauser opens near GdanskWeyerhaeuser Poland - worldwide leader among processors of wood – has opened a new factory in Gdansk-Kokoszki. This is the first such facility in Europe. The com-pany operates worldwide and employs approximately 15,000 employees, primar-ily in the United States and Canada. The American company is not planning simi-lar investments on the continent. Gdansk has been selected due to its strategic, lo-gistically convenient location. The plant is the most modern in the world cross-linked fiber processing facility used, eg in production of hygiene products for every-day use. It is, in some way, unique produc-tion - no one in the industry produces an identical component. Currently, the fac-tory employs 60 people on a permanent basis, mainly high-skilled specialists. The planned employment target is 110 employees. The initial annual production amounts 67,000 tons of processed fab-ric. It will be increased gradually until it reaches the production target of approxi-mately 130,000 tons per year.

Kabel-Technik Poland in Bialogard German company Kabel-Technik-Polska - a world leader in the design and manu-facture of cable harnesses - launched its new branch in the Technology Incubator in Bialogard. The company is a global supplier to the commercial vehicle in-dustry (buses and trucks), automotive, telecommunications, rail and wind energy. The company currently em-ploys about 150 employees in Bialogard and plans to expand. The Technology Incubator, which celebrates five years of its operations, includes 13 companies, which together employ more than 350 people. Incubator offers space rental for production with sizes ranging from 500 to 2000 sqm and provides investors with modern powder coating center n

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Suwary builds new packaging plant in KsawerowPolish plastics manufacturer Suwary has started building a new plastic packaging plant in Ksawerów. The investment is worth over PLN 25.5m (€5.9m), the com-pany said. The facility will be set up on a 38,600m2 site. The project in Ksawerów is developed by the company’s subsidiary Suwary Tech. A storage facility with a to-tal surface of 6,817m2 will be set up on the site. “The plant will be fitted with the latest solutions in plastics manufactur-ing and logistics systems,” the company said.

The factory, which will be located about 13 kilometres from the region’s capital city of Łódź, is expected to have a work-force of about 33. Production at the plant is expected to be launched in early 2014. “The new investment is financed by the

company’s own capital and an investment loan,” said Walter T. Kuskowski, chief ex-ecutive of Suwary. Under the company’s development strategy, Suwary aims to increase its Ebitda fourfold between 2011 and 2016.

New Investments in Kutno ASTI Sp. z o. o., HTL-Strefa S.A., Sonoco Poland -Packaging Services Sp. z o. o. have all received authorization to conduct business in the Lodz Special Economic Zone. HTL-Strefa S.A. is a manufacturer of safety lancets for hospi-tal use (with more than 50% of the global market) and lancets for personal use as well as insulin needles used to treat dia-betes. Due to the rapid development the company intends to expand its plant. The first phase will be to increase the production capacity for products from

the range of insulin needles and safety lancets. The investor is also planning to expand storage capacity. The company expects to incur capital expenditures of at least EUR 3.4 million, to create 10 new jobs and retain existing 654.

Chinese investment in Aviation sector In June, PAIZ signed a declaration of coop-eration with the Chinese investor JiangSu LanTian Aerospace Industrial Park, to sup-port the implementation of investment projects in Poland. The first is the acqui-sition of Aero AT from Mielec, a manufac-turer of light training aircraft (AT-3). The project is the result of intensive devel-opment of the general aviation sector in China. The company declares investment in production and research and develop-ment of new aircraft. n

FDI Investment News

The Metro Atlanta Chamber is hoping to lead the creation of a new organiza-tion to spur investment activity between Poland and the Southeast United States. Although it’s still in nascent stages, the idea is to follow the model of SEUS-Japan and SEUS-Canada alliances that bring to-gether government and business leaders from Southeastern states and the partner country each year. Generally, they hold conferences to discuss business and trade issues, alternating locations. Georgia has been integral to the formation of both.

John Woodward, senior director of for-eign investment at the chamber and the man behind the SEUS-Poland idea, first in-troduced it at a Polish investment confer-ence in April in Birmingham, Ala. He also mentioned it this week in Warsaw, where he outlined the investment advantages of the Southeast and Atlanta at a seminar put on by the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency. 

The time is ripe for investment in both directions, as Poland’s internal market grows and its companies become mature enough to compete globally, Mr. Woodward said.

“Many companies in Poland are reach-ing a position where they are already ex-panding and they could start considering expansion to a market such as the U.S.” Mr. Woodward said.

Aerospace is set to be a key driver of Poland’s outbound expansion, Mr.

Woodward said. Just before the interview, he had visited Aviation Valley, an industry cluster in the country’s southeast that de-veloped to supply the Soviet air force dur-ing communist times but now boasts 112 private companies. 

Many are suppliers to France-based Airbus SAS, which is putting a $600 mil-lion plant in Mobile, Ala., by 2015.That has Polish suppliers looking at the Southeast instead of U.S. cities they already know, such as Chicago, Mr. Woodward said. 

Airbus suppliers from Hamburg, Germany, and Toulouse, France, two oth-er hubs, are also eyeing the South, and they don’t want to just be tied to Mobile, he said. Boeing Co. is also expanding its factory near Charleston, S.C., Lockheed-Martin makes military planes in Marietta, Gulfstream Aerospace builds private jets in Savannah, and a variety of other players of varying sizes are fanned out around the region.

Mr. Woodward noted that he was able to set up meetings between Polish aerospace companies and Georgia representatives visiting the International Paris Air Show June 17-23. 

Poland’s ties with the South are still un-derdeveloped, but that’s all the more rea-son to promote them, Mr. Woodward said.

“If we as a whole Southeast region can get in and make ourselves known to these folks, to this burgeoning economy, it bodes well as a whole for us,” he said.

Atlanta and Poland share complementa-ry economies, Mr. Woodward added. Both are strong in manufacturing, life sciences, digital media and information technology.

How the alliance would look or who would run it have yet to be determined. Mr. Woodward suggested that a conference be organized in Poland in 2014 to build on the momentum of this year’s Birmingham conference.

Poland’s connections with Atlanta have been gathering steam over the past few years. 

Lawrence Ashe, an attorney, was named honorary consul for Poland in Atlanta in 2011, the same year that the Polish-American Chamber of Commerce Atlanta was founded. The Polish-American Chamber of Commerce Southeast, a sepa-rate chamber, has been around for years. 

United Parcel Service Inc. has major European logistics operations employing more than 4,000 people in Poland. Exide Technologies Inc. has a battery factory in the city of Poznan, and NCR Corp. recently announced a deal to install “contactless” ATMs at banks throughout the country. n

Atlanta and southeast US target Poland

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Enterprise Investors closes its Polish Enterprise Fund VII of EUR 314 mlnInvestment fund manager Enterprise Investors, with projects in Central and Eastern Europe, has recently announced the final closing of its latest fund, Polish Enterprise Fund VII (PEF VII), with a value of EUR 314 million, through which it tar-gets medium-sized companies, mainly in Poland.

The PEF VII had its first close in May 2012 and has already made two invest-ments – in a  network of radiotherapy clinics (Center for Cancer Diagnostics & Therapy and Nu-Med) and in a sports nu-trition company (Scitec), according to the company.

According to Jacek Siwicki, President of Enterprise Investors, the company will continue making equity investments rang-ing from EUR 20 million to EUR 50 mil-lion and, similarly to the previous funds, two-thirds of Polish Enterprise Fund VII will be invested in Poland. “We invest in sectors driven by the convergence of CEE domestic consumption with the ‘old’ EU, such as consumer products and retail, fi-nancial services, and healthcare, where we

have substantial deal and exit experience. PEF VII will also invest in sectors driven by CEE’s growing internationalization and competitive cost position, for example IT, industrial products and business process outsourcing,” added Jacek Siwicki.

Agastyl to expand Polish plastics plantPolish plastics manufacturer Agastyl is planning to expand production at its plant in Ełk. 

The factory, located in the Suwalska spe-cial economic zone (SSEZ) in the country’s north-eastern region of Podlaskie, will start producing plastic partitions for the road construction and rail industry. To set up a new production line in Ełk, the com-pany aims to purchase a 13,000m² site.

“The investment is to be completed by 30 June 2016,” the SSEZ said. The com-pany declared that the expansion works at the production facility will be worth at least 3.5m zloty. The Ełk-based company opened the factory in 1999. Agastyl’s prod-uct portfolio includes a wide range of PVC cables, wires, mesh fencing and compo-nents for the footwear industry. With the completion of the planned investment, the

production facility will have a workforce of 38. Currently, the Polish plant has a monthly output of about 2,000 tonnes of plastic pellets, according to data released by Agastyl.

Poland -China Business MeetingIn early June, PAIZ held a “Poland -China Business Meeting” organized on the occa-sion of the visit of the Ministry of Commerce of PRC delegation. The delegation was led by Ms. Bao Ling, Deputy Director of the Department of Commerce. This was the first delegation of Chinese companies in-terested in import of Polish food, meat, dairy products, and wood. PAIZ organized a session of individual business meetings between Polish business and Chinese com-panies interested in import from Poland such products as: agricultural products, livestock, seafood, milk powder, whey, sun-flower oil and other raw materials, healthy food, chemical fertilizers, petrochemicals, synthetic fibers, linen, silk, cotton, wool, clothing, wood, car parts, non-ferrous met-als, electrolytic copper.

China ranks 3rd place in terms of quan-tity and 5th in terms of value of the proj-ects supported by PAIZ. n

Sir Brian Souter’s investment company Souter Investments announced its second major disposal this year with the sale of Sunseeker yachts. The deal came on the same day as orders were placed for 25 new double deck coaches for Sir Brian’s bus company in Poland.

Beijing based Dalian Wanda Group has announced that it was acquiring Sunseeker, Britain’s biggest luxury motor yacht manufacturer. Souter Investments was the largest shareholder in Portofino Yacht Investments, which controlled Sunseeker.

Commenting on the sale to Wanda Group, Sir Brian said: “This is a welcome announcement. Sunseeker already exports nearly 100% of its yachts to many countries round the world. Wanda will be a wonder-ful partner, particularly in helping it un-lock the substantial potential inherent in the developing Chinese boating market.”

For Sir Brian it is the second major dis-posal in the last 3 months, having previ-ously realised Souter Investments’ sig-nificant stake in the £1.2bn flotation of insurance giant esure.

Meanwhile, the €12 million invest-ment in new coaches comes on PolskiBus.com’s second birthday. When the company launched two years ago it had only 18 ve-hicles. By the end of the year it will have 92 coaches operating in Poland.

PolskiBus.com, which brought cheap luxury express coach travel to Poland, now operates 12 routes and has carried nearly 3.5 million passengers since its launch.

The new Van Hool luxury double-deck-ers, which carry 89 passengers, will ensure PolskiBus.com remains at the forefront of green travel. For instance, fuel consump-tion on a trip from Warsaw to Gdańsk, a distance of 350 kilometres, is only 1.4 litres per passenger.

The new vehicles are equipped with environment-friendly and economical en-gines, air conditioning, toilets, Wi-Fi, and 89 comfortable reclining seats. They have also been designed to meet the needs of limited mobility and disabled passengers, as the lower deck provides for wheelchair access.

Since its formation, PolskiBus.com has become one of Poland’s biggest brands with

passenger satisfaction rates of 99.62%. Sir Brian said: “PolskiBus.com has been a tremendous success. Passengers love our prices, comfort, convenient schedules and quality service. We have ambitious plans for the future and will continue to expand PolskiBus.com in Poland and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.”

In addition to serving 19 Polish cities,PolskiBus.com serves a number of international destinations in Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

PolskiBus.com even has its own Facebook fanpage with 90,000 followers and in an online birthday competition, passengers can compete for prizes such as an iPod touch, PolskiBus.com model buses and the Ziggi stork toys. n

FDI Investment News

PolskiBus gets expansion capital

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KrakówKrakow - the new BollywoodAmbassador Piotr Klodkowski, the Polish Ambassador to India, comes as something of a surprise. He talks about the Vedantas and the Upanishads with ease and his speech is heavily peppered with Hindi words.

“The first Chair of Sanskrit was set up in Poland in 1893,” he said. “About 80 years ago, culture in Poland was heavily very root-ed in Indian philosophy. Tagore was trans-lated directly from Bengali into Polish.”

In town to celebrate the first anniversa-ry of the Polish Institute of Culture here in India, the Ambassador talks about what he calls ‘cultural diplomacy,’ as a way to pro-mote Indo-Polish relations.

Home to some of the greatest musi-cians of all time, including Chopin, Poland has always set great store by art and cul-ture. ‘Chitraanjali, Stefan Norblin in India,’ a documentary on the story of Polish artist Stefan Norblin, will flag off the first anni-versary celebrations in Bengaluru, India.

The Institute receives its funding from the Polish Ministry of Culture and the government of Gujarat.  “Poland is a cultural destination,” said Ambassador

Klodkowski. Bringing Polish culture to India is the next step and the upcoming International Book Fair in Poland will pro-mote Hindi translations of Polish litera-ture. “We’re hoping Hindi will be the main language at the fair,” he added.

The Indian film industry has also emerged as one with great potential, for the Ambassador talks at length about Poland

being the next destination for Indian film-makers.  “I’ve met with Amitabh Bachchan several times and I offered him a Ganesha idol made of rock salt obtained from the salt mines of Poland,” said Ambassador Klodkowski.

Movies and TV commercials are being shot in Krakow more and more frequently, he explained. “Krakow’s main square saw a bomb explode for a film shoot, something

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that didn’t happen even in World War II,” he laughed.

Ryanair Mulls Tel Aviv-Krakow RouteThe low-cost airline Ryanair said it was considering flying a route from Tel Aviv to Krakow.

The late May announcement came one month after Israel’s government decided to allow new flights to Europe.

“It seems that every Israeli child has to go to Poland to go and see Auschwitz. We can help them with that,” the Dublin-based car-rier’s deputy chief executive, Howard Millar, said at a news conference in London.

Some 25,000 Israeli teenagers visit Nazi death camps in Poland annually in trips or-ganized since 1988 by Israeli high schools and Israel’s Education Ministry. A spokes-person for Israel’s Education Ministry said the ministry uses Israeli airliners as well as LOT, the Polish carrier.

On April 21, Israel’s Cabinet approved an open skies agreement to boost airline traffic to and from Europe. Set to go into effect in April 2014, it will ease restrictions and quotas on flights between Israel and European Union countries, and likely will increase competition and lower prices.

Rents in Krakow’s prime high street locations comparable to WarsawMonthly rents for fashion and accessories stores with floor area of about 100 m2 in Krakow’s prime high street locations are hovering at between €80-95 per square metre and are comparable to Warsaw lev-els, according to a study by Jones Lang LaSalle.

The top high street locations in Krakow are Grodzka street between the Main Square and the Dominikanski Square, with rents of between €80-95, and Florianska street (€70-80). Rents for stores in less

prestigious locations are much lower and typically do not exceed €35-40. At leading shopping centres they are €42-47.

In the words of Edyta Potera, director of commercial space at JLLS, the develop-ment of high streets in Krakow is held back by several factors, most notably a short-age of suitable space, but also lack of clear vision and engagement from municipal authorities.

The dominant retail format in the Krakow metropolitan area – with a popula-tion of over 1 million – are shopping cen-tres, accounting for 71% of total supply. The city has 11 shopping centres and shopping and entertainment complexes, two retail parks, one outlet centre, and more than 10 big box retail developments. In terms of shopping centre saturation, Krakow ranks sixth in the country. At the end of 2012, the average vacancy rate for retail space in the shopping centres in Krakow was around 3.3% (against 3% at the end of 2011). n

Katowice IBM to expand in Katowice and hire 2,000IT giant IBM is to open its second service centre in Poland, generating up to 2,000 jobs, in Katowice.

The company has been present on the Polish market for over 20 years. Its first ser-vice center is located in Wroclaw, while the second is to be in Katowice. According to IBM, Katowice was selected because of its location and proximity to Germany as well as its educated work force. “Katowice was selected for our next growth location due to its very strategic location,” General Manager of IBM Poland Ales Bartunek says. 400 are expected to be employed in the Katowice Center this year and a further 1600 by 2015 when the centre becomes fully operational.

Skyscraper for sale – city-centre locationAfter being originally valued at 260 million pln, the Altus skyscraper is on the block again. So far, no one has come forward with an accept-able purchase price. The building is for sale, since its owner Reliz Sp. Z o.o. Is in bankruptcy liquidation. The executor (“syndyk”) made a second attempt to sell the building – for a lower price of 195 million pln – but this effort has also failed. The 70,000 sm building is 125 metres high, and tenants include the Helios cinema operator, Hotel Katowice, shops, restaurants and offices for companies such as Capgemini. The building was built in 2003. n

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PoznańINEA buys naming rights for Polish stadiumLeading Polish Ekstraklasa club Lech Poznan has agreed a five-year deal that sees telecommunications firm INEA as-sume the naming rights to its stadium.

The deal was struck with the club, which finished runner-up in the Ekstraklasa last season, and Marcelin Management, which operates the stadium. The 43,000-seat venue was opened in September 2010, making it the first Polish stadium to be ready for the country’s co-hosting of UEFA Euro 2012. The facility, which cost Euro 180 million to devel-op, will now be known as the INEA Stadium.

“The stadium, like our services, releases positive energy and brings people together,” said president of INEA, Janusz Kosinski. “We are convinced that the title sponsor-ship of the stadium will enhance our image and build brand recognition for INEA.”

President of Lech Poznan and Marcelin Management, Karol Klimczak, added: “INEA Stadium is a meeting place, provides

fantastic entertainment for the whole fami-ly and more often – serious business discus-sions. I am very pleased that we finished the negotiations successfully and also thank all other partners for their interest, time and energy spent on our conversations.”

City Service group wins 25 million pln tender in Poznan A tender to manage municipal apartments, territories and other premises in Poznan was won by ZZN, part of City Service group. Poznan’s Communal Apartment Office (Zarzad Komunalnych Zasobow Lokalowych) shall sign a contract with ZZN in July. ZZN will manage a total apartment, territories and other premises area of 1.35 million sq. meters. The contract shall be signed for the term of 4 years; and the value of contract is PLN 24.7 million.

“In Poland we see huge opportunities of or-ganic expansion and we are successful in em-bracing these opportunities, as the tender in Poznan confirms. We will continue to partic-ipate in all facility management tenders that fit our profile”, stated Žilvinas Lapinskas, General Director of AB City Service.

“City Service” manages the largest cor-porate group engaged in facility man-agement services in Central and Eastern Europe. The Group operates in the Lithuanian, Polish, Latvian and Russian markets. Total area of buildings managed by the Group amounts to more than 25 mil-lion sq. meters.

Troubles on the road S5 Wroclaw – PoznanThe GDDKiA directorate of roads rescind-ed the contract with Alpine Bau for con-struction of the S5 road between Wroclaw and Poznan, in the section Kaczkowo - Korzeńsko (in Wielkopolska, near the bor-der with the province Lower Silesia). The reason given was a breach of the provisions of the agreement. The General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways, in-formed by Alpine Bau of construction de-lays on the S5, sent the company a letter in which it asked for an explanation. A spokeswoman for the Poznan branch of GDDKiA, Alina Cieslak, said that the S5 expressway is completed in about 70 per cent. n

SzczecinIAI S.A. leases in Piastow Office Center in SzczecinIAI S.A., a professional company that pro-vides on-line services listed on NewConnect, has leased 700 m² of office space in Piastow Office Center in Szczecin. CBRE advised the tenant in the negotiation process. Piastow Office Center, owned by Realkapital Szczecin II sp. z o.o., is a modern office complex located at Piastow Avenue and Bohaterow Warszawy junction. The property offers 18,500 m² of office space available in three buildings and 600 parking places. Sebastian Mulinski, COO & Founder, IAI S.A., said: “We have decided to open a new office in Szczecin to launch new services, continue our dynamic development and strengthen our team.

We also plan to expand our business over-seas.” Mariusz Wisniewski, Senior Property Negotiator at CBRE, added: “Szczecin at-tracts many BPO tenants. Piastow Office Park is conveniently located close to the rail-way station and with easy access to the city center. IAI has joined such other tenants as Konica Minolta Business Solutions, Aviva and Tebodin Poland.”

Road link Szczecin–Gdansk on the wayThe S6 Expressway linking Szczecin and Gdańsk is getting closer to fruition,

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and is high on the list of priorities for the Ministry of Transport – said Sejm Deputy Minister of Transport Patrycja Wolińska. Pomeranian parliamentar-ians (originally only two, now more than 15 from West Pomerania and Pomerania) have been urging the representatives of the Ministry of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy and the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways of the strong support for the S6 road construction, including having already collected tens of thousands of signatures of people who want to build the expressway. The expressway will link Szczecin to Kolobrzeg, Koszalin, Slupsk, and Gdansk/Gdynia.

At the end of November, the govern-ment will announce the plans to build roads under the next EU budget period of 2014-2020. “The S6 project is very high on the list of priorities and financial calcula-tions according to the ministry, and will likely be carried out in the years 2014-2020. The design of this road is still be-ing prepared. But it is still not a foregone conclusion.”

According to Zbigniew Konwiński, head of the parliamentary group for the S6: “We have a big advantage, because the S6

will connect the key ports of Gdańsk and Szczecin and Kolobrzeg. And road connec-tions between ports are a key driver of eco-nomic expansion.

Genpact opens new centre in SzczecinBusiness process management and tech-nology services firm Genpact opened in May a centre in Szczecin to expand its ser-vices portfolio in Europe and globally.

The new centre, located in the Pomeranian Voivodeship province, will deliver services including finance and ac-counting, supply chain and procurement, customer service, and banking back office services.

The company has already got two clients – one each in banking and telecommunica-tions – to serve from this centre, the com-pany said.

“With two clients we are off to a great start in Szczecin, and several more about to begin, we see a lot of potential to grow in this location, particularly with companies in Austria, Switzerland and Germany,” Ahmed Mazhari, Senior Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Customer Relationships, Genpact Europe said.

It is the third site for Genpact in Poland after Lublin and Krakow. Genpact will also

be working with the faculty of Economics of the Szczecin University and The West Pomeranian University of Technology through this centre, it said.

“As we continue to expand in this mar-ket, we will focus on investing in our people, offering them learning and profes-sional development opportunities particu-larly in the areas of Lean and Six Sigma and domain-specific training,” Pascal Henssen, Chief Operating Officer, Genpact Europe said.

Genpact opened its first European cen-tre in Hungary in 2002 and since then grown to 13 delivery locations in Europe with more than 3,400 employees, it said.

Tenders possible for the yearThe meeting was also attended by repre-sentatives of GDDKiA. Tomasz Rudnicki, Deputy Director General, said that the institution is constantly working on the preparations for the construction of S6, and next year will take place the first tenders. He said that the S6 will not only provide better access to the capitals of provinces and improving road safety, but most of all it will boost the economic development of the whole of Pomerania region. n

WrocławAtrium acquires Galeria Dominikanska in WroclawAtrium European Real Estate announced the Euro 151.7 million acquisition of the Galeria Dominikanska shopping centre in Wroclaw from a Joint Venture comprising the Otto Family and Deutsche EuroShop AG. The acquisition will be financed us-ing the Group’s existing cash resources. The transaction is subject to approval by the Polish anti-monopoly office and the fulfilment of certain conditions prec-edent, which are expected to be finalized in Q3 2013. ECE will continue to man-age the shopping centre, working closely alongside Atrium’s in-house team of retail experts.

Galeria Dominikanska is a fully occupied, Grade A shopping centre which comprises approximately 32,900 m² of gross lettable area spread over three levels and across 102 units, as well as a gym let to AM Fitness Club and approximately 1,250 sqm of office space. The shopping centre is anchored by a Carrefour supermarket and a Media Markt and houses a wide range of international and domestic retail brands including Van

Graaf, Zara, Pull & Bear, Bershka, Benetton, Douglas, Sephora, Mango, Max Mara, New Yorker and Reserved, together with a strong food and hospitality offering. Average dura-tion of all lease contracts is over 6 years. In addition, the centre includes over 900 park-ing spaces.

Opened in 2001, Galeria Dominikanska is the leading shopping centre in Wroclaw, Poland’s fourth largest city and capital of

the Silesia region, which has a population of some 630,000 inhabitants.

It is situated in a prime location at the heart of the city, right next to the historic Old Town, and on the inner city ringroad. It is serviced by nine tram and five bus routes with stops outside the center and has a wid-er catchment area of some 1 million poten-tial consumers, of which about 580,000 live within 15 minutes travel time. n

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ŁódźHawkeye and OSTC choose Lódz 1 office buildingHawkeye and OSTC have joined the tenant portfolio of the Lódz 1 office building. The companies will occupy a total volume of 1,000 sq m of modern office space. Jones Lang LaSalle’s team represented both brands in the transaction process, while the building owner was represented by Knight Frank.

The Lódz I building (the former office of Infosys BPO Poland) offers approximately 6,500 sq m of A-class office space. The as-set is located in the heart of the city cen-tre, next to a major intersection of one of the main arteries - Pilsudskiego Av. with Sienkiewicza St., with easy access for em-ployees commuting by car. Guests and em-ployees are also able to use its 130-space car park. Additionally, the building gives easy access to other forms of public trans-port and the proximity to Piotrkowska St. and Galeria Lódzka shopping centre with its broad retail and gastronomic offer.

Hawkeye, an international business services sector company, provides ad-vanced marketing and IT solutions and cooperates with leading global provid-ers of new technologies (Microsoft, Cisco, HP, Fujitsu). The firm will occupy around 755 sq m of modern office space. Another tenant which decided to open its office within the complex is OSTC Poland. OSTC is a leading global trading company that specialises in exchange traded products in all major asset class-es. The company will occupy over 330 sq m. Moreover, in March, KPMG, an in-ternational advisory services firm, an-nounced its decision to join the Lódz 1 tenant portfolio.

Orange Poland’s Integrated Solutions to build Lodz networkIntegrated Solutions, an ICT integra-tor belonging to the Orange Poland group, signed a contract with the Lodz Voivodeship on construction and com-missioning of the backbone part of the Lodz regional network. The project is co-financed from the Regional Operational

Programme of Lodz Voivodeship for 2007-2013. The contract amount is PLN 29.6 million. The project shall be com-pleted within 16 months and support shall be provided within the next five years.

China’s Guangzhou in ŁódźThe City of Lodz will cooperate with the Chinese. In June, the City of Lodz signed a cooperation agreement with Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, China. The agreement is the first step to the signing of the twin cities. Guangzhou is a growing center for the automotive indus-try and the service sector. The Chinese are particularly attracted to the city’s signifi-cant urban development plans - the New Centre of Łódź. “Cantonal authorities also expressed their willingness to take advantage of our experience as a logistics center and as a city for producing movies”, said Agata Magin, from the office of the mayor. “Lodz is also particularly promot-ing the rapid cargo connections to and from China, and is attracting a wide range of investors.” n

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Gdańsk/GdyniaThe Gdańsk main rail station is undergoing an 18 million pln renovation, with further repairs to continue into 2014. Roofs, ceilings and interiors are from the nineteenth century, but the train statoin will be brought up to 21st cen-tury standards. Workers are racing against the clock so as to finish most work before the winter season sets in. The plan is to include the installation of fire alarm systems, smoke vents and fire-curtains, as well as improved aes-thetics - wooden windows, new doors and lighting, and restoring the original colors. The full renovation will last an-other 1.5 years.

“Work on the concept for the area of the railway is in progress. Its shape is not yet final. Today we can say that it will fit and be consistent with the reconstruc-tion of the building project”, said Tomasz Kowalski from PKP SA.

He emphasized that the plan for the work inside is not yet ready and is still being negotiated with the conservator. “After creating the concept, we will start the search for an investor interested in the project. It is difficult at this stage to determine when the investment will begin.”

Certain changes in 2014 include the demolition of secondary ceilings, which were created in the 1990s, and enabling easier orientation for travelers with a modern, dynamic passenger information system.

Amenities include assistance for the disabled. “Currently, it is too early to

determine exactly how long it will take. For passengers, they should be prepared for temporary waiting rooms”, said Kowalski.

PKP would like to develop the buildings around the station, such as the old post of-fice. One of the scenarios under consider-ation is a public-private partnership.

Sunreef YachtsSunreef Yachts boatyard has new orders for yachts with a value of 34 million pln. Only in the last two weeks, custom-ers have ordered two luxury catamaran yachts, the superyacht Sunreef 82 Double Deck and the new concept of the Sunreef 60 LOFT. Both boats will go to their owners at the end of the year. Sunreef 82 Double Deck will be purchased by a cli-ent in Abu Dhabi and is the second unit of the new model of super-yacht made of advanced composite materials. It will be the world’s first boat with a folding

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mast. The system that will be installed on it will reduce the height from 34 m to 23.40 metres.

Sunreef 60 LOFT will be sold to a cus-tomer in Russia. It will be developed and fully equipped according to the specifica-tions prepared by the shipyard, and is a luxury yacht with comfortable accommo-dation for 6 people in 3 spacious cabins

and 2 crew members aft cabin, accessible directly through the kitchen - the most convenient way to use the space for the crew and allow maximum privacy for guests on board. Sunreef Yachts has been gradually extending its range of yachts and consistently increasing annual pro-duction. In Gdansk they are producing both sailing catamarans and motorboats

with a length of up to 30 meters ordered by customers from all over the world. To meet the increasing orders, the yard is currently building new production halls, where the annual production will be 15-20 units over 60 feet, including super yachts.

The new plant in Gdansk will be located adjacent to the suspension bridge. n

Eastern PolandFuneral trade fair opens in KielceFuneral directors, coffin makers and oth-er exhibitors from 20 countries attended the 5th International NECROEXPO trade fair currently on in Kielce. Visitors to

the International Funeral and Cemetery NECROEXPO two-day trade fair viewed new models of coffins and even computer programs involved in the management of cemeteries. The fair, co-organized by the Polish Chamber of Undertakers, attracts companies which deal in the production of coffins, urns and sarcophaguses as well as numerous other funeral ceremony accessories.

“The exhibition creates a unique chance to become familiar with the diversity of offer in this business sector, ranging from transport services, through conducting a funeral ceremony to cemetery mainte-nance and administration,” the web site says. Visitors also saw a Flower Show pre-pared by a Masters of Florists and an exhi-bition of second-hand hearses and electric vehicles. n

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Australia Poland Australia Business Network at the PARIS AIR SHOWThe mid-June Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Exhibition Centre was occasion for Austrade Warsaw, in conjunction, with Australia’s Defence Materiel Organisation to promote the synergies between strong Polish and Australian aviation capabilities. Austrade hosted a networking function and also arranged B2B meetings between Australian and Polish aviation companies, with the goal to establish a strong platform for further bilateral cooperation between Australian companies and potential Polish business partners.

Paris Air Show is the world’s premier and largest event dedicated to the aviation and space industry. It brings together all the industry’s players across the globe to showcase the latest technological innova-tions. Aviation Valley is Poland’s largest aviation cluster and brought strong repre-sentation of the Polish aviation industry to the Paris Air Show.

Strong Polish government del-egation attended CeBIT Australia conference A delegation from Poland, including 13 se-nior representatives from the Ministries of Economy, Finance, and Digitisation attend-ed the three day CeBIT event in Sydney from the 28th to the 30th of May 2013. Poland is

investing significantly in upgrading its in-frastructure and continuing to seek new solutions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of both its government and business enterprises, including implement-ing eGovernment platforms.

CeBIT and its e-GOVERNMENT smart service delivery conference provided the Polish government representatives with in-sights into successful Australian eGovern-ment projects, latest trends in eGovernment and better understanding of Australia’s digital industry capability. The Polish del-egation participated in specialist themed seminars and had a series of 1:1 meetings with Australian government and businesses involved in eGovernment initiatives.

An important part of the visit was a meeting with Squiz Australia, a local leader in the delivery of open source software and content management systems. The com-pany serves 90% of government agencies in Australia along with 23 out of 39 universi-ties. A local subsidiary Squiz Poland is well established on the market and delivers plat-forms and IT solutions to Polish clients.

CeBIT is the largest and longest running technology event in the Asia Pacific Region, held annually which attracts business lead-ers, heads of government and the public. This’s year CeBIT in Australia had a focus on Cloud, Big Data and Public Sector ICT.

Polish Foreign Minister on an of-ficial visit to AustraliaThe Republic of Poland’s Foreign Minister, Mr Radoslaw Sikorski, visited Australia in early May to attend a series of high-level meetings with senior public officials and business representatives.

Economic issues played an important role in the visit to Australia. Minister Sikorski was accompanied by the chief executives from Poland’s largest mining and mining services companies and the Minister took part in the opening of the Polish-Australian Business Forum and Mining Seminar on 6 May.

During the Forum Ernst and Young’s chief economist Mr Marek Rozkrut delivered an economic brief on Poland. The presentation highlighted the strong economic similarities between Poland and Australia along with opportunities for Australian companies. Cooperation in the area of mining is a key aspect of Polish-Australian economic ties. Polish companies (including Kopex, Famur, Fasing, and Conbelts) are already supplying state-of-the-art mining equipment for the Australian market. There is also plenty of room for cooperation in the gas extraction sector, in particular when it comes to uncon-ventional gas reserves. n

AustriaIMMOFINANZ lists in Warsaw: “We are an East European real estate company”The dual listing debut of IMMOFINANZ on the Warsaw Stock Exchange was in May, with shares of the Austrian real estate trad-ing on the Main Market. The shares will be listed in the WIG Index (ticker sym-bol: IIAAV) starting on 21 June. This is a dual listing by the largest Austrian real es-tate company and did not involve the issue of new shares. The WSE listing will make it easier for Polish investors, above all pension funds, to acquire an investment in IMMOFINANZ. The shares are now traded on the two most important stock exchanges in the CEE region – Vienna and Warsaw – and is one of the most liquid real estate stocks in the region. The Erste

Group served as the market maker for IMMOFINANZ on the WSE, backed up by numerous road show meetings with insti-tutional investors in Poland. “This listing in Warsaw underscores our commitment to the CEE region. IMMOFINANZ is an East European real estate company. Our portfolio has a total carrying amount of EUR 10.5 billion, which is located in nearly equal parts in Eastern and Western Europe. We now earn substantially more in Eastern Europe than in the west”, explained Eduard Zehetner, CEO of IMMOFINANZ Group.

In addition to Austria and Germany, IMMOFINANZ Group’s core markets in-clude Russia, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. “Eastern Europe and the know-how of Austrian companies in these neighbouring mar-kets have frequently been underestimated or criticised in the Anglo-American region since the start of the crisis. All too often, there is a lack of motivation to examine

the differences between the individual countries, their size, national debt and economic policies. Many people therefore overlook the fact that this region is still growing much stronger than Western Europe and the economies have lower debt ratios“, adds Zehetner. “IMMOFINANZ be-lieves in this long-term growth story and its future potential and is investing in numer-ous major development projects throughout CEE. The opportunities will become even greater with the growing convergence of Europe and the EU’s increasing awareness of its responsibility for the region.“

IMMOFINANZ Group’s activities in Poland are concentrated on the premium retail and office sectors in Warsaw and on retail properties at top regional locations. In the center of Lublin the company is cur-rently constructing the Tarasy Zamkowe, a spectacular facility forshopping, enter-tainment, relaxation and recreation with up to 38,000 sqm of rentable space.

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The Nimbus, a development project in Warsaw, will be a premium office property in a prime location with green terraces and 19,000 sqm of rentable space. In Katowice the third phase of the Dębowe Tarasy residential proj-ect is currently in realisation. IMMOFINANZ Group is also planning to expand in Poland with its STOP.SHOP. retail brand.

Energy Globe Award to HOBAS Engineering GmbH for Czajka pipe installationThe Energy Globe Award for Poland was awarded to the Austrian company HOBAS Engineering GmbH for their engagement in the prestigious Czajka wastewater treat-ment plant in Warsaw.

The Energy Globe Award was initiated almost 15 years ago by the Energy Globe Foundation and honors extraordinary sus-tainable projects.

HOBAS provided the sewage pipes that ran 7 kilometers through Warsaw using a trenchless pipe installation by remote-controlled jacking. By avoiding large scale trenches in the Polish capital and the sub-sequent traffic deviations, this installa-tion method reduced the CO2 emissions of the project by almost 380.000 tons of CO2.

The ceremony took place in the prem-ises of Advantage Austria, the Commercial Section of the Austrian Embassy in Warsaw.

The accompanying picture shows (from right to left): Austrian Ambassador Herbert Krauss, HOBAS Polska Managing Director Lech Skomorowski, HOBAS Polska Sales Director Jacek Lesiecki, and Austrian Commercial Counselor Ernst Kopp.

Anton Paar GmbH inaugurates new Polish officeThe Austrian-based specialist for high-end measuring and laboratory instruments for industry and research, Anton Paar GmbH, has taken another step in their worldwide

expansion strategy: On May 13th, celebrations were held at their new office in the Poleczki Business Park to inaugurate their first sub-sidiary in Poland, Anton Paar Poland Sp. z o.o. Austrian Ambassador to Warsaw Herbert Krauss and Commercial Counsellor Ernst Kopp congratulated Friedrich Santner, man-aging director of Anton Paar GmbH and Piotr Kubas, director general of Anton Paar Poland.

Anton Paar is the world leader in the measurement of density, concentration and CO2 and in the field of rheometry and has 20 subsidiaries worldwide. n

BelgiumBusiness Breakfast for Belgian DevelopersThe Business Breakfast gathered together the Managing Directors of major Belgian developers operating on the Polish market in order to exchange experience on doing business in Poland. During the meeting

guests heard short presentations about general trends on the real estate and office markets, recent changes in the law (ustawa deweloperska) and their influence on com-panies as well as possible sources of the fi-nancing of investments. The presentations were then followed by a discussion.

Matexi PolskaMatexi Polska has started demolition works preceding the start of its second project in

Warsaw. The demolition of the existing build-ing on the corner of Duracza and Magiera Streets in the Bielany district is the first stage of realisation of Matexi’s second project inWarsaw. The building’s occupancy permit is expected in December 2014. The building was designed by MAAS Projekt architectural company from Warsaw, and Unibep S.A. is its general contractor. The project will consist of 11 floors and two levels of parking space with 109 parking places. Clients will be offered a wide range of 93 functional apartments, varying from small studios of 34 sq. m up to spacious two and four-bedroom apartments of 93 sq. m. Price per sq. m will range from 6800 PLN/ m2 to 8800 PLN/m2, and the cost of parking place will be 33.000 PLN. Future residents of SĹODOWIEC PARK will benefit from easily accessible public transport. The first of Matexi’s projects, in the Bemowo dis-trict, is almost finished – with only 10 apart-ments available for sale. At the moment the company is preparing its next residential projects. The next one will be located in Ursynow district, on the corner of Romera and Surowieckiego Streets, and will con-sist of 100 apartments and office and retail space. n

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CanadaWaste to Energy Plant for the City of PoznańBireta Professional Translations Kempińska & Woźniakowska s.c. has signed a contract with Hitachi Zosen Inova AG for providing technical translation services concerning the construction of the Waste to Energy Plant (ITOPK) in Poznań. Waste to Energy Plant for the City of Poznań is the largest project of this type in Poland  and the practically the first Public- Private Partnership Project in Poland, with a capacity of 210 000 tons a year. The plant will make it possible for the City of Poznań to meet the limits imposed on the quantity of municipal waste to be dis-posed on landfills, as enforced by the Polish and EU laws. Bireta provides high quality translations in highly specialized projects in such sectors as power, oil & gas and environ-ment protection.

Dentons leads on debut Immofinanz WSE listingDentons’ Capital Markets team in Warsaw led the recent debut listing of

Immofinanz, the largest Austrian real estate company, on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The shares are listed on the WIG Index since June 21, 2013. The Dentons team was led by Partner Marcin Bartczak and included Capital Markets specialists Inga Dulska and Artur Cieslik. Eric Rosedale, Co-Chairman of Dentons’ European Real Estate Group, said: “This complex transaction high-lights our group’s strong multi-dis-ciplinary capabilities for our leading institutional real estate client base in Central and Eastern Europe. The listing is for a major regional real estate player in one of Europe’s most dynamic real es-tate markets where Dentons maintains a leading position amongst international law firms.” n

France14th July 2013 – Bastille Day14th of July is the French National Holiday known as Bastille Day, greatly celebrated in all cities and towns along the Seine river. The French Chamber of

Industry and Commerce (CCIFP), unit-ing nearly 400 companies of French capital, will spread this cheerful at-mosphere onto the streets of Warsaw. CCIFP plans to organize numerous attractions for every Varsovian and France lover, which will culminate in two events: French village and Bastille Day Ball. During the all-day picnic on pedestrianized Francuska street every visitor will have opportunity to plunge into a French atmosphere. The honor-ary patron of this exceptional event is the French Ambassador to Poland. On the main stage situated on Francuska street will be attractions all-day-long, including finale of French song contest, culinary duel, interviews with French celebrities and Poles related to France, fashion show and many others. In the evening CCIFP invites everybody (ad-mission with ticket) to the BALL, which will refer to the traditional party held on that day in France. Each of the last three editions attracted nearly 1,500 partici-pants, drawn to an evening of games and caricature drawing, lottery, dances and exceptional French food and drinks. More information: www.ccifp.pl. n

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Germany In early June the Polish-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce had the pleasure to invite its members to the fifth annual

Festival of German Wine in Warsaw.  Over 300 guests tasted some 100 varieties of the finest wines presented by 20 wine-growers and importers. To enrich the ex-perience, Anna Hochsdörfer, the German Wine Princess, took the stage to share her

knowledge of wine production in Germany. Amongst the audience in the cozy interiors of the ‘Villa Foksal’ was also the event’s guest of honor, the German Ambassador to Poland, His Excellency Rüdiger Freiherr von Fritsch. n

ItalyWines from Italy in WarsawThe event “Barolo & Friends” organized with the support of the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Poland was a great success for Piedmontese wines in Poland. The 2013 attendance was more than 300 professionals from the sector and about 500 wine lovers crowding the halls of the beautiful seat of Vitkac, in the heart of Warsaw. The facility also hosts a top quality commercial centre, with wine bars and the famous restaurant Concept 13. The wine-industry professionals had the opportunity to meet the twenty attend-ing Italian producers, as well as the most important wine journalist in the country, who led two seminars, the first on the great Piedmontese wines and the second with a specific focus on the Barolo Crus.

In the afternoon, Barolo & Friends opened its doors to wine lovers who could meet the producers and taste their wines, also having the possibility to appreciate the food products proposed by J Wine Food and Caseificio Cooperativo Valle Josina. The Wine Tasting Experience was co-hosted by the oenologist Gianluca Viberti together with Tomasz Barczynski and the seminar on the matching of wine and food called “Piedmont Wine & Food Moments” was guided by Gianluca Viberti for the wines.

The session, open to the public, was inaugurated by the Italian Ambassador in Poland Mr Riccardo Guariglia, the Apostolic Nuncio Mons. Celestino Migliore and the Undersecretary of the Polish Presidency of the Republic Jaromir Sokolowski, a great lover of Italian wines, who wanted to meet the producers person-ally. The ambassador Guariglia person-ally greeted all the attending producers,

reminding them that: “it is really impor-tant to carry out specific actions in Poland, because the Poles are extremely interested in Italian food and wine production, and in fact the figures show that Italian wines are the most sold in Poland.” The tasting also saw the presence of the ICE Director, Mr Giuseppe Federico, of the Warsaw seat, and the President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Poland Mr Donato di Gillio. n

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JapanJapan to cooperate with 4 cen-tral European nations on nuclear energyIn a first-ever summit, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on June 16 agreed with lead-ers of four central European nations to advance cooperation in the energy sector in an attempt to boost exports of nuclear reactors.

“Closer ties with the V4 will lead to in-frastructure exports, a goal under Japan’s economic growth strategy,” Abe said after a summit with the Visegrad 4 (V4) region-al cooperation framework, consisting of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

A joint statement released after the summit said Japan needs to contribute to nuclear safety based on lessons learned from the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in 2011.

Japan has upgraded its relationship with the V4 from the foreign minister’s level, given the fast economic growth of the four member countries. The four countries plan to build nuclear reactors in an effort to lessen dependence on Russia for energy resources.

The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that nuclear power generation capacity in East Europe will increase 1.6 to 2 times in 2030 from the current 49 million kilowatts. The figure means that 30 to 50 new reactors will likely be built by 2030, putting the region on par with Asia and the Middle East.

The Czech Republic is expected to select a contractor to build two additional reac-tors at the Temelin nuclear power plant in September at the earliest.

The team of Toshiba Corp. and its U.S. subsidiary, Westinghouse Electric Co., is competing with a Russian company for the contract.

Japanese and French companies are bid-ding for two reactors in Hungary, while contractors from Japan and five other

countries are vying for two reactors in Poland.

In May, Japan basically agreed with Turkey to build a nuclear plant on the Black Sea, the first export of the technol-ogy since the Fukushima disaster. It also in May signed a nuclear energy agreement with the United Arab Emirates.

Apart from the nuclear energy coopera-tion, the joint statement released after the Japan-V4 summit also called for accelerat-ing negotiations on an economic partner-ship agreement between Japan and the European Union.

Abe and his counterparts agreed to make preparations for a foreign ministers’ meeting on the sidelines of a session of the Asia-Europe Meeting in November. The leaders also agreed to designate 2014 as the year for promoting exchanges between Japan and the V4.

Prior to the summit with the group-ing, Abe met with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and agreed to hold a bilateral meeting of defense officials in autumn. n

PortugalPortuguese Week - Flavours of Portugal – 2013For the fourth year in a row, the Polish-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce (PPCC) organized the Portuguese Week - Flavours of Portugal at InterContinental Warsaw Hotel. During the weeknights, from

Monday until Friday, renowned chefs-de-cuisine from Portugal prepared traditional Portuguese dishes and wine producers presented their offer during Portuguese wine degustation. The event closed on the 25th May with a Portuguese family brunch event. Each day, Portuguese gui-tar music was played by Paulo Faria de Carvalho and Samuel Cabral and a concert performed by of Joao de Sousa & Fado Polaco. The Portuguese Week - Flavours

of Portugal is the flagship event of the Polish-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and the biggest gastronomic event pro-moting Portugal in Poland. The event aims to promote the very best of Portuguese gastronomy, wines, tourism, and culture. Within the Portuguese Week, there also took place workshops about tourism in Portugal, wines and Portuguese culture. Through a life-style event, the objective is to strengthen the bilateral relations be-tween Poland and Portugal. Once again, the event was a great success and attracted a huge audience interested in get to know more about Portugal.

The PPCC launches regional repre-sentation in Silesia In June 2013, the Polish-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce launched its Regional Representation in Silesia with the representatives Marco Almeida from Linking Business and Izabela Jakubiec from Biurofin. The regional meeting took place on the 13th June in Katowice. It is the third Regional Representation of the PPCC launched, after Krakow and Lublin. The Business Plan of the Polish- Portuguese Chamber of Commerce provides to strengthen the presence of the Chamber of Commerce in the regions in Poland and Portugal, organize events for the members seated away from Warsaw and increase the visibility and awareness of the PPCC among local institutions and companies. n

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ROC Taiwan European parliament members visit TaiwanA group of members of the European Parliament are visiting Taiwan to gain a deeper understanding of the country’s po-litical environment and learn of the lat-est developments in Taiwan-China ties,

according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The five-member delegation, including Ryszard Legutko of Poland, vice-chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, along with Tomasz Poreba and Marek Grobarczyk, visited Taiwan in late June.

Poreba and Grobarczyk are also Polish politicians and members of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group. During their stay, the EU delegates are scheduled to meet with President Ma

Ying-jeou, Taiwanese lawmakers and of-ficials from of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council, the Foreign Ministry said.

The delegation’s itinerary also includes visits to the Hualien air force base in east-ern Taiwan and the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology in Taoyuan, the military’s main research and development unit, the ministry said. n

ThailandThai Prime Minister to visit Poland in JulyPrime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is scheduled to visit Turkey and Poland in July to strengthen bilateral ties after eight years of little political contact. She will also lead a delegation of businesspeople during her trip to explore trade and investment

opportunities, Rattakit Manatat, the Thai ambassador to Ankara, said. The trip, which is likely to take place from July 3-7, will see Yingluck meeting with the mayor of Ankara and the governor of Istanbul. The last top-level official visit between the two countries was in 2005 when her older brother Thaksin went to Turkey as prime minister. According to Turkey’s official trade figures, its exports to Thailand were worth US$243.8 million in 2012. They were mainly machinery, ships and water-borne

structures. Thailand’s exports to Turkey, worth $1.08 billion, were mostly cars, auto parts, granular plastic and natural rub-ber. One incentive for greater investment in Turkey is its respectable level of trans-parency. It moved up the ranks to 61st out of 102 countries surveyed in 2011. Turkey, like Thailand, is also a popular tourist destination. The ancient city of Izmir dates back five millennia, and is compet-ing with Thailand to host the World Expo in 2020. n

SpainPicnic:The second edition of the Picnic of the Polish-Spanish Chamber of Commerce was held in mid-June at the Bemowo Airport, sponsored by the Chamber and BZ WBK Bank. Among the guests were many rep-resentatives of member companies of the Polish-Spanish Chamber with their children and friends. The Chamber also had the great honor to host the Spanish Ambassador in Poland HE Agustín Núñez Martínez and representatives of Latin America embassies as well as Mrs Rocío Frutos, Economic and Commercial Counsellor of Spanish Embassy in Warsaw and Mr Mirosław Węglarczyk from the Trade and Investment Promotion Section at the Polish Embassy in Madrid.

The Picnic gave a great opportunity to meet many important entrepreneurs con-nected with Polish-Spanish commerce on an informal basis as well us to enjoy the day in a Spanish atmosphere. During the Picnic a flamenco concert was performed by Magda Navarette, and traditional Spanish paella was served.

Economic meeting:On June the 20th, 2013 at the Mamaison Hotel Le Regina in Warsaw took place a

working lunch organized by the Polish - Spanish Chamber of Commerce with the Deputy Prime Minister of the Polish Government, the Minister of Economy Mr Janusz Piechociński. Among about 50 participants there were many mem-ber companies of the Polish-Spanish Chamber of Commerce with the presi-dent, Mr. Stefan Bekir Assanowicz. Also, the Spanish Ambassador in Poland, HE Agustín Núñez Martínez, as well as Mrs Rocío Frutos, Economy and Trade Counsellor of Spanish Embassy in Warsaw

and Mr Mirosław Węglarczyk from Trade and Investment Promotion Section at the Polish Embassy in Madrid attended. The main theme of the meeting with the Minister of Economy was the development of economic exchange between Poland and Spain and the situation of Polish market. Among the discussed subjects there was a perspective in the infrastructure budget for the years 2013 - 2015 and the Poland’s economic policy in the area of improving the business environment for foreign in-vestors. n

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United KingdomBritish-Polish Infrastructure Forum looks at shape of Poland’s future transport networkBPCC members had the chance to meet senior Polish policy makers responsible for road, rail and public transport at the British Embassy in Warsaw in late May. Almost 100 representatives of public and private sector met to hear about Poland’s plans to modernise its transport network. Of particular interest was the next EU bud-get perspective for 2014-2020, which would see tens of billions of euros being spent on road and rail infrastructure. But, as BPCC chairman, Antoni F. Reczek, pointed out in his introduction to the event, there still exists a significant gap between the EU money available and Poland’s infrastruc-ture needs. The latter has been estimated to be around 500 billion zlotys (€130 bil-lion). The Forum sought to address the question how that gap might be made up. He also said that the imbalance between road and rail spending needs to be tackled.

British Ambassador Robin Barnett stressed the importance of sustainability in transport planning; British government policy is to persuade people to use the car less, which is good for the environment, leads to a fall in road traffic accidents and – if people walk or cycle for shorter journeys – is healthier for the popula-tion. Mr Barnett said that a door-to-door public transport strategy involves the col-laboration of local authorities with central government.

Polish rail minister Andrzej Massel put Poland’s rail policy into the context of the Trans-Europe Network – Transport (TEN-T) and mentioned the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which would provide funding for Europe’s stra-tegic rail corridors. In particular, railways serving ports were high on the agenda. Tenders for projects will be published next year, in 2015 and 2016. Zbigniew Rynasiewicz, chairman of Poland’s Parliamentary Infrastructure Committee, said that Poland would be simplifying its construction code, bringing it in line with the German one. He also said that the stress on urban transport policy to 2030 would be ensuring that districts (powiaty) neighbouring major agglomerations were connected up as coherent travel-to-work areas.

There was much interest in a presenta-tion by Charles Doyle from Transport for London (TfL) about the Cross Rail scheme, that links Paddington and Liverpool Street stations with a tunnel under central London. The £14 billion scheme, scheduled for completion in 2018, will greatly relieve congestion on the capital’s 150-year-old Tube network, and is being paid for from a mixture of sources including a business rate surcharge on London businesses. He said that over-site development, above the stations, were crucial to the financial suc-cess of the project, which was all about un-locking growth in the capital; the scheme is intended to benefit London’s economy to the tune of £42 billion.

Paweł Stelmaszczyk, head of the in-telligent transport systems unit at the European Commission’s DG Move, talked about Poland’s infrastructure needs in the context of the EU’s overall transport strategy, which stresses the importance of transport networks to the economy. “Curbing mobility is not an option,” he said. There are three network industries – telecoms, energy and transport, where on an EU-wide scale, systems work only as well as the weakest link. Road, rail, air and water transport must all complement one another.

Mr Stelmaszczyk did mention the European Commission’s sceptical ap-proach to the idea of high-speed rail for Poland, bearing in mind the Spanish expe-rience, which showed that the demand did not justify the costs. He also mentioned the interoperativity of electronic road toll systems across the EU, saying that there was a ten year delay in the implementation of the systems.

During the panel discussion chaired by UKTI’s Martin Oxley, Gabriela Popowicz, deputy director of the department coor-dinating infrastructure projects at the Ministry of Regional Development, said the amount of money earmarked for transport infrastructure in the the next EU budget round would be roughly com-parable to the 2007-2013 one. Key priori-ties would be low emission and clean and sustainable urban transportation, intel-ligent transport systems (ITS) and inter-modal transport.

Jarosław Pasek, director at the Department of EU Funds, Ministry of Transport, said that the current balance of the 70/30 split between road and rail will become 60/40 in the next budget round. He said that at present, the density of fast roads in Poland was around half of the EU average. Turning to rail, Mr Pasek said that the focus should not so much be on a

few 200kmh lines rather on more 160kmh lines. More revitalisation of railways, more freight lines, the completion of the second line of the Warsaw Metro and more trams were also part of the agenda for the next budget round.

Prof. Adam Prokopowicz from the Center for Analyses in Transport and Infrastructure, expressed his criticism as to the lack of reforms within PKP, result-ing in Poland’s transport policy being the least innovative in Europe. He also spoke of a border existing between the old and the new Europe.

Steve Novis, head of Atkins Polska, said that sustainable development has to be driven by the government ‘nudg-ing’ the behaviour of citizens – away from the car, towards mass transit, through mechanisms such as London’s Congestion Charge, which was matched by an improve-ment in the frequency and quality of buses. He spoke of the need for better park+ride facilities, through-ticketing and better signage. Mr Novis said that in the UK the focus was on ‘pinch-points’ which needed smoothing, rather than the old ‘predict and provide’ model.

Highlighting Anglo-Polish differ-ences in rail freight, the experiences of British firm Freightliner in the UK were contrasted with those of its Polish sub-sidiary. Whereas in the UK, rail freight was expanding robustly in terms of vol-ume and value, and the rail network was being expanded to increase the routes which the largest freight trains could use, Poland was seeing a contraction of rail freight. Rafał Milczarski, head of Freightliner.pl, attributed the industry’s plight to high track-access charges, much higher than in the UK or Germany, and the unhealthy relationship between PKP Cargo and PKP PLK, the infrastructure operator.

There was some debate over the future of Poland’s proposed high-speed rail lines, from Warsaw to Łódź, where an under-ground city-centre terminal is currently being built, then on to Wrocław (which still lacks a direct rail route to the capital) and Poznań. The Spanish experience with high-speed rail was mentioned as being a costly white-elephant project that squan-dered EU money. The Polish high-speed project has been postponed to 2030, the Łódź station is still being built, leading to questions about the point of this work. Łódź MP, John Godson asked specific ques-tions regarding current plans for the Łódź Fabryczna station and the future of the high-speed line from Warsaw to Wrocław and Poznań via Łódź. n

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United StatesTrade Agreement – US and EUThe beginning of negotiations for the trade and investment partnership agree-ment with the United States in 2013 could be an opportunity for Europe to regain lost vectors of competition. For America, there is the prospect of a market with half-a-billion inhabitants opening fur-ther to American products and services. If this agreement is concluded, it will be

a great opportunity for the transatlantic community. The creation of the largest free trade area in the world could give a new quality to mutual relations. But it will only be concluded if sufficient regard is given to the interests - often divergent - of the various EU member states. Poland must make a precise calculation of the po-tential and risks of the agreement and de-fine its priorities. For instance, trade with the United States is marginal in Polish commerce: it would be good if the trans-atlantic agreement changed this fact. It could also contribute to the development of Polish-American scientific/technical cooperation. The European Union’s legal unity in economic matters does not mean, however, that all its members cope in the same manner. In order to take advantage

of the benefits of the European commu-nity it is necessary to have an efficient government, operating properly at the national level.

It is sufficient to compare the pres-ent situation in Poland and Greece. As a member state of the EU, Poland has been proving for a decade that it can manage its economy very well. With average growth in GDP at 4 per cent – and on the plus side even during the crisis – Poland has become the service bridge to Europe. For inves-tors, there are particular opportunities for growth in the outsourcing of business processes and in shared service centres, particularly financial and bookkeeping services, logistics, call centres, common

service centres, and technological centres. Obviously, the question of ’value added’ arises, which is something that Poland should have a larger share in. Cooperation with the United States could give Poland’s economy the developmental impulse need-ed to move from the stage of being an in-expensive assembly facility to the stage of being the creator of high-class products and services.

Poland has high economic growth and utilises its competitive advantage, particu-larly in regard to its neighbours; it relies on the strength of the German economy, which it uses to drive its own industry and services. International players are pres-ent in Poland in electronics, the automo-tive, and bio-tech industries, aviation and R&D. Polish firms have a lot of production

potential, which is increasingly often based on modern design and export exper-tise. Companies offering programming, computer games, engineering systems, and automated solutions of the e-learning type are developing rapidly.

The situation is worse, however, with the economic structure, innovativeness, and the reputation of Polish products, which are still little known and under-valued in the United States. Trade turn-over between the two countries is today less than between Poland and the Czech Republic. In Europe, Americans are look-ing for efficient economies in which to invest. Poland still has two advantages: its low cost of energy and a well-educated

labour force. These are worth preserving, but in the long term they are insufficient to maintain the economy’s competitive-ness. It is necessary to think about inno-vation, about increasing work productivity and modernisation. Poland’s economy is participating in the global competition for capital and investments. As of now, Poland is still attractive, but the situation could change. Simple provisions such as cheap la-bour and the low cost of doing business will sooner or later come to an end, and thus it is necessary to seek other means of attract-ing foreign capital, including American. The maintenance of a friendly environment for investors requires continual attention and this is not always sufficiently appreciated in Poland. n

Source: ThinkTank

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June

27 JuneBritish-Polish Defence ForumBritish Embassy, WarsawThis Forum will be to bring together Polish and British defence contractors, representatives of the Polish and British Ministries of Defence, army, air force and navy, to discuss mutual opportunities of cooperation, as well as issues surrounding bilateral defence procurement.

28-30 JuneVIII of the Convention Polish Wine GuysNational Stadium, WarsawMeeting of Polish winemakers, industry and the media and a large open tasting and purchase of Polish wines and regional products. www.winicjatywa.pl/Konwent

July

4 JulyThailand-Polish Business ForumWarsawPAIZ invites you to participate in the Business Forum Pol and and Thailand, which will be held on July 4 this year in Warsaw. The Forum will be accompanied by a visit to Poland of Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra. The official opening of the Forum will be attended by Prime Ministers of both countries, as well as companies in the food, automotive, energy, construction, tourism sectors, and rep-resentatives of the Polish regions. http://www.paiz.gov.pl/Polska-Tajlandia)

6 JulyAmCham Independence Day Picnic 2013Polonia Stadium, WarsawThe annual picnic of the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland on the occasion of Independence Day of USA.

8 JulyPolish-Greek Economic ForumKIG, WarsawPolish-Greek Economic Forum, to be held at the headquarters of the National Chamber of Commerce in Warsaw. The meeting, co-organized by the Ministry, will be attended by the President of the Hellenic Republic Karolos Papoulias. The discussion during the Forum will focus on cooperation in the field of waste management, and the possibilities of privatiza-tion in Poland and Greece.

14 JulyFrench Day (Bastille) in WarsawWarsawThe French Chamber of Commerce in Poland brings together nearly 400 companies with French capital for this joyful occasion on the streets of Warsaw.

August

1 AugustVII Forum Internet Marketing - Marketing to the new generationWarsaw

September

2-5 SeptemberXXI International Defence Industry Exhibition 2013

Kielce

The event has grown to become the premier defence event of its kind in Central Europe, with over 13,000 visitors from 29 countries.

2-3 September6th Investment ForumTarnówThe Investment Forum in an accompanying event of the Krynica Economic Forum.

3–5 September23rd Economic Forum – Krynica - “Towards a New Deal”

Krynica-Zdrój For the 23rd time during the Economic Forum in Krynica the most significant figures from the world of politics and business from Eastern and Central Europe will have an opportunity to meet. This edition’s motto, namely “Towards a New Deal”, refers to an economic, social and political transformations, which result from the global economic crisis.

12 September International Oktoberfest 2013

Arsenal of the Wrocław City MuseumOrganised by: British Polish Chamber of Commerce, American Chamber of Commerce in Poland, German-Polish Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Irish Chamber of Commerce, and Polish-Portugese Chamber of Commerce. n

Business Calendar

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Private equity firm Enterprise Investors, fresh off of raising its next large investment fund, held its annual Ventura event, highlighting the best from among its portfolio companies. The following companies were distinguished for their performance:1) Manager of the Year

Bogusław Grabowski, Prezes Skarbiec Holding2) The most dynamically-developing firm: Dino Polska3) The best Venture Capital firm:

Polski Bank Komórek Macierzystych4) Event of the year: Skarbiec Holding, sale, ProService AT5) The most effective firm: Magellan n

Events

Enterprise Investors – Ventura 2012

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At the annual Wroclaw Global Forum, win-ners of the Atlantic Council Freedom Awards were announced. Tadeusz Mazowiecki – the first Polish Prime Minister after the collapse of the communist regime, Malala Yousafzai – a renowned Pakistani blogger, as well as the European Humanities University in Belarus are the winners of the 2013 Freedom Awards, which were presented at an official gala held at the end of the second day of the Wroclaw Global Forum.

For the fourth time, the Atlantic Council has acknowledged those who have contrib-uted to fostering civic liberties and who peacefully fight for freedom in the world. The Atlantic Council Freedom Awards were presented by Stephen D. Mull, United States Ambassador to Poland, and Ryszard Schnepf, Polish Ambassador to the United States.

This year, laureates of the Freedom Awards included Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the first Polish Prime Minister to hold office after the fall of the communism, advisor to Lech Wałęsa, as well as co-founder and President of the Democratic Union and the Freedom Union parties. “Now we can allow ourselves to have a moment of joy and pride, to raise a glass of champagne at the anniversary of the first free elections in Poland on the 4th of June 1989 and setting up of first non-communist government. For us, Tadeusz Mazowiecki embodies that mo-ment of change. And he can be proud of what he achieved,” said Maciej Witucki, President of Orange, who delivered the congratulatory speech for Tadeusz Mazowiecki.

Another laureate was the 16 year-old Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani blogger

known across the globeas a champion of Muslim women’s rights, shot in the head by the Taliban last year. Due to her deli-cate health condition, Malala Yousafzai was not there in Wrocław to receive the award herself, but her father, Ziaududdin Yousafzai, was there on her behalf. Participants of the gala had the oppor-tunity to listen to a video recording of a speech by the young blogger who has re-cently been recognized by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

A Freedom Award was also granted to the Belarusian European Humanities University (EHU), an educational insti-tution which had been active in Belarus for twelve years when it was shut down in 2004 by the Belarusian authorities for political reasons. Thanks to international support, it reopened in 2005 in Vilnius

to carry on actively backing student oppositionists.

Mark Palmer, who played a crucial role in the unraveling of the communist regime as the American

Ambassador to Hungary and advisor to Ronald Reagan, received the award posthumously. After 1989 he advocated the creation of centers intended to help the captive societies of the f ledgling democracies. He believed that a world ruled by democrats could help to topple dictators.

During the official gala event, also the Mayor of Wroclaw, Rafał Dutkiewicz, presented his own distinctions. Medals of Merit to the City of Wroclaw were awarded to the founding fathers of the Wroclaw Global Forum – Fredrick Kempe of the Atlantic Council and Maciej Witucki, President of Orange. n

Events

Wroclaw Global Forum – and Winners of the 2013 Atlantic Council Freedom Awards

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Food group HEART of ENGLAND fine foods (HEFF) is expanding its interna-tional trade links on behalf of its members as producers featured on the menu for The Queen’s Birthday celebrations at the British Embassy in Warsaw on June 19th.

Nine producers from across the heart of England region were included on the menu, serving to more than 800 guests at the British Embassy.

Through the work of The HEFF International Trading Desk at HEART of ENGLAND fine foods (HEFF) alongside UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), the Trading Desk team has forged a strong working rela-tionship with the British Embassy in Poland following a local food and drink showcase in February.

Guests at the Queen’s Birthday celebra-tion enjoyed cheeses from Mr Moyden’s Handmade Cheese, Market Drayton, and Shropshire Cheese Company, Oswestry, together with beer from Hobsons Brewery, Cleobury Mortimer.

Other heart of England products on the menu included cheeses from Croome Cuisine, Worcestershire; farmhouse pickle from Cottage Delight, Staffordshire; beef and lamb from Martin’s Meats, Gloucestershire and cooked smoked turkey from Adlingtons, Warwickshire. In addition, there was cider from Celtic Marches, Herefordshire and soft drinks from Story Brands, Staffordshire.

Karen Davies, HEFF Chief Executive, said: “We were delighted that the British Embassy in Warsaw selected food and drink

from our members to showcase at such a prestigious event. We are looking forward to continuing to work with the Embassy to develop trade for our businesses in Poland.”

Robin Barnett, Her Majesty’s Ambassador in Warsaw, said: “We are very pleased to

be working with the HEFF International Trading Desk. Emerging Europe is the high-est potential growth destination for British food and drink in Europe and the Trading Desk provides practical support for SME ex-porters.” n

Events

British Food at The Queen’s Birthday

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Hosted by Grzegorz Kiszluk and Brief Magazine, the annual “Place Marketing in Poland” event was held at the National Stadium. Speakers included Marcin Herra, prezes of PL.2012+, which is in charge of commercialization of the National Stadium. Attendees, mostly from the marketing departments of cities, heard presentations by Czeslaw Lang, director of the Tour de Pologne, Marek Mraz, strat-egy and marketing communication direc-tor at CzechTourism, and Daniel Garcia, event director at the Frankfurt-based Commerzbank Arena. n

Events

For further information contact:Craig Smith / +48 604 144 769 / craig@europaproperty.com

Anna Kaliszewska / +48 601 382 667 / anna@europaproperty.com

CEE GREEN BUILDINGAWARDS

November 28th, 2013, Warsaw, Poland, InterContinental Hotel

The 3rd annual

GREEN COMPANY OF THE YEAR CATEGORIES:• Agency of the Year • Architectural Firm of the Year • Bank of the Year

• Developer of the Year • Green Tenant of the Year • Green Professional of the Year• Green Tax Financial Adviser of the Year • Investor of the Year• Law Firm of the Year • Property Management Firm of the Year

• Project management Firm of the Year • Professional Service Provider of the Year• Sustainable Materials And Resources Firm of the Year

CEE GREEN CITY AWARDS:New the CEE Green City Awards have been developed to recognize what cities

in Central and Eastern Europe have done or are planning to do, in order to make their cities more pleasant place to live and work while developing

their green initiatives.

“NEW” CEE GREEN TENANT OF THE YEAR AWARD: The tenants with the greenest practices, policies, programs, initiatives and

space will be awarded for their commitment to keeping a low carbon footprint.Covering the office, retail, warehouse sectors, from the smallest to the

largest tenants.

Associate Partner: Partners: Supporting Partners:

future 4buildśrodowisko ekonomia społeczeństwo dziedzictwo

Warszawskie Centrum EXPO XXI6-7.11.2013

Cocktail Partner:PR Partner: Venue Partner:Charity Partner:

Media Partners:Wine Partner:

Public Relations

Knowledge Partner:

Auditor:

Natasza Urbanska unveiled her newest fashion collection at the Pure Sky Club, which is managed by Paul Cowen. The members-only club occasionally hosts the "Womens Success Business Mixers". n

Natasza Urbanska unveiled her newest fashion collection

The annual “Place Marketing in Poland” event

For further information contact:Craig Smith / +48 604 144 769 / craig@europaproperty.com

Anna Kaliszewska / +48 601 382 667 / anna@europaproperty.com

CEE GREEN BUILDINGAWARDS

November 28th, 2013, Warsaw, Poland, InterContinental Hotel

The 3rd annual

GREEN COMPANY OF THE YEAR CATEGORIES:• Agency of the Year • Architectural Firm of the Year • Bank of the Year

• Developer of the Year • Green Tenant of the Year • Green Professional of the Year• Green Tax Financial Adviser of the Year • Investor of the Year• Law Firm of the Year • Property Management Firm of the Year

• Project management Firm of the Year • Professional Service Provider of the Year• Sustainable Materials And Resources Firm of the Year

CEE GREEN CITY AWARDS:New the CEE Green City Awards have been developed to recognize what cities

in Central and Eastern Europe have done or are planning to do, in order to make their cities more pleasant place to live and work while developing

their green initiatives.

“NEW” CEE GREEN TENANT OF THE YEAR AWARD: The tenants with the greenest practices, policies, programs, initiatives and

space will be awarded for their commitment to keeping a low carbon footprint.Covering the office, retail, warehouse sectors, from the smallest to the

largest tenants.

Associate Partner: Partners: Supporting Partners:

future 4buildśrodowisko ekonomia społeczeństwo dziedzictwo

Warszawskie Centrum EXPO XXI6-7.11.2013

Cocktail Partner:PR Partner: Venue Partner:Charity Partner:

Media Partners:Wine Partner:

Public Relations

Knowledge Partner:

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BizPoland Magazine and BiznesPolska are proud to host the inaugural FDI Poland In-vestor Awards Gala, an evening dedicated to recognizing top foreign companies operating in Poland.

With more than 200 international executive guests from more than 25 countries expected, the awards gala will be preceded by a half-day of discussion panels covering key issues and practical experiences related to direct invest-ment in Poland.

Poland has emerged as a world-leader for inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and continues to attract top global investors, from a wide range of sectors including car and white-goods manufacturing, aviation, business services, energy, retail, and pharmaceuticals.

Poland’s top international direct investors will be presented with awards of acknowledgment – by an independent Jury – for their economic commitment to the Polish economy, judged by size of investment, employment levels and strategic importance.

This invitation-only event will attract top in-ternational executives in charge of investment decisions related to Poland, with support from more than 15 international Chambers of Com-merce, representing a broad mix of top execu-tives from amongst Poland’s largest and most economically-important foreign investors.

Chambers of Commerce that are invited include: Britain, USA, Canada, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Italy, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Czech, Australia, Japan, Korea, China, and Brazil.

www.FDIPolandAwards.plTime: 18:30-24:00 | Attendees: 200+ | Dress Code: Black Tie (formal attire)

FDI Poland Investor Awards17 October 2013

Hotel Intercontinental, Warsaw