Deals

Poland’s richest man bids for state-owned utility

Polish billionaire Jan Kulczyk has reportedy made a bid, backed by unnamed global infrastructure funds, to buy over 80% of state-owned utility Energa. The Polish Treasury Ministry is said to have received eight offers after the government decided to sell five Polish utilities to reduce its budget deficit.

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Kulczyk Investments, the investment arm of Poland’s richest man Jan Kulczyk, has filed a bid to buy 82.9 percent of state-owned power company, Energa. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the company has made its offer through a joint venture with unnamed global infrastructure-focused private equity funds.

Poland’s Treasury Ministry has reportedly received a total of eight offers for the stake that may be worth up to 5.4 billion zlotys (€1.3 billion; $1.6 billion). The government has decided to sell utilities in order to reduce its budget deficit.

Jan Kulczyk
Among other bidders cited are Polish state-controlled utility Polska Grupa Energetyczna, the Polish unit of France’s GDF Suez; Czech utility CEZ AS; Mercuria; Green Pole Energy; PPC Energy Group; Czech Energeticky a Prumyslovy Holding, a joint venture between a group of companies linked with the Czech financier Petr Kellner; and the J&T investment group.

Based in Gdansk in Northern Poland, Energa reported a net income of 425 million zloty (€103.3 million; $125.0 million) on sales of 8.38 billion zloty (€2.0 billion; $2.5 billion) in 2009. Energa is one of five state-owned utilities that the government has decided to sell.

It distributes 19 terawatt hours of energy per year. The company runs a 750-megawatt coal-fired generator and a hydroelectric generator with a capacity of 180 megawatts.