Bizpolandmag nov 2013 final

November 2013 vol. 6 no. 7(38) Price: 20 zł

Stairways to Heaven Warsaw’s skyline fills in with Skyscrapers

FDI Awards:

City News:

Advisory:

15 Winners

Poznan to host ABSL conference

Trouble ahead for Tusk

Table of Contents November 2013

vol. 6 no. 7(38)

Published by: BiznesPolska sp.z o.o. ul. Długa 44/50, bud. D, lok 704, 00-241 Warszawa tel.: 022 831 7062 General Manager and Editor: Thom Barnhardt (tb@bizpoland.pl) Publisher: Craig Smith (cs@bizpoland.pl) Editorial staff and writers: Leon Paczyński, Monika Tutak Research team coordinator: Magda Adamczyk Advertising Sales: Wiktor Gliński (wglinski@biznespolska.pl) tel.: 022 831 7062 Graphic Design: Sławek Parfianowicz sparfianowicz.wordpress.com Subscribe to BizPoland Magazine Annual subscribers to BizPoland Magazine receive our monthly magazine, as well as five business directories for free: ­Outsourcing in Poland, CityInvestPoland, Top Offices, Top Shopping Centres, and Wind Power in Poland. 500pln for one year.

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Real Estate

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Stairways to Heaven “Heard in the halls” of Expo Real

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FDI Awards Gala

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FDI Poland Investor Awards – Winners awarded in 15 categories

13 Advisory 13 14 15

Growing pressure on tax optimised intra-group structures Disaster on the horizon: renewable energy support system unlawful Trouble ahead for Tusk

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BPO/Shared Services

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Graphite Capital sells Alexander Mann Solutions BPO/Shared Services in Brief

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Equities News Food Exports

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Norfolk’s food firms look to strike deals in Poland Anuga report: Germans proclaim Poland’s good products, but poor marketing

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FDI News

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Kerry talks trade and defence on Poland visit Kleven considering investment in Polish shipyard Tokai Rubber Industries launches Polish plant FDI News in Brief

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City Investment News

(33) Łódź; (35) Trójmiasto; (36) Szczecin; Poznań; (37) Wrocław; (38) Kraków; (39) Śląsk/Katowice; Eastern Poland

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Chambers of Commerce News

Portugal; Japan; (42) Swiss; Spain; (43) Germany; (44) Canada; France

45 Business Calendar 46 Events 46

Details at subs@bizpoland.pl or call +48-22-831-7062

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30 designers show at FashionPhilosophy Fashion Week Poland CEE Manufacturing Excellence Awards 2013 Ambassador of Sport Caledonian ‘600 Year’ Ball

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ExpoReal

Stairways to Heaven Warsaw’s skyline fills in with Skyscrapers

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In some financial circles, the rise of recordbreaking skyscrapers is a sure sign of a company’s – or a country’s - fortunes about to reverse. The spate of skyscrapers being built, or in advance planning, in Warsaw will either prove the adage true – or debunk the myth.

At the recent Expo Real real estate fair in Munich, Warsaw’s top office developers stood side-by-side, politely sipping wine and exchanging market information about office leasing prospects.

But behind the scenes, brokers and investors and other insiders say that the slew of skyscrapers slated for Warsaw can’t all be successful, and that the coming two years will produce winners and losers amongst ambitious office developers.

“It’s all or nothing”, said one broker, explaining that office skyscraper projects are carried out over a number of years. It takes around four or five years to get from the start of the process to the digging of the first hole. This is followed by more than two years of construction work. The entire process often lasts seven or eight years.

In order to attract serious tenant interest, developers need to start building speculatively.

And indeed that is the plan of two well-established developers with high-rise office towers already under construction.

First out of the blocks is Ghelamco, with Warsaw Spire already adding floors every week, and with at least one major tenant already signed up and more lease news expected before year-end. With the largest office development in Europe, Ghelamco will need to find many more such tenants to fill its 100,000 square meter office.

On its heels is Echo Investment, with Q22, a 52,000 square meter project estimated

to cost 500 million pln. Echo Investment bought the Mercure hotel on al. Jana Pawła II in Warsaw for EUR 31 mln, and after demolishing the hotel during spring 2013, work is well under-way for the near tower.

“Suffice it to say”, said one savvy Warsaw-based broker, “that office rents will certainly not go up”.

Insiders expect a natural increase in the share of renegotiations in 2014 to occur. Some tenants will want to wait for the end of the current slowdown and save on relocation costs by simply renegotiating their current lease deals. Yet an increase in renegotiations does not mean that everyone will decide to stay in their current premises. Some companies will change their offices.

And developers believe there is a pent-up demand in Warsaw among tenants – particularly government-related firms – to upgrade to more “representative” premises.

In terms of the outlook for rents, one broker said that rents, in 2015-2016, will be stable with some pressure from tenants to make them a little lower. That seems an optimistic scenario given the huge supply coming to market. “It is hard to say what the situation will be like in the city centre because we have been seeing large variations in rents, from EUR 30 to as little as EUR 19 per sqm.”

The location of so much new office development in the city centre and Wola will shift the centre of Warsaw westwards.

And the new underground is accelerating this move. Thanks to the new underground line the distance from the Daszyńskiego roundabout to the ONZ roundabout will shorten to 1.5 minutes.

And that shift has implications for related developments in the city. Assuming that most of the planned projects come to fruition, the urban fabric will change rapidly, creating new life in the city center, not least due to the imminent completion of the second underground line.

The city center neighborhood is getting busy, with developments from Skanska, PHN, UBS, GolubGetHouse, Echo, Ghelamco, LC Corp, and Ablon all within minutes’ walk of each other. Several of the projects are profiled below. n

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ExpoReal

Q22

Warsaw Spire

BBI Development Tower

Developer: Echo Investment Floors: 200m (including the spire) Square meters: 52,000 Estimated delivery date: Q1 2016 Green credentials: Q22 is to be BREEAM-certified at the ‘Excellent’ grade. The façade will be tripleglazed. It will have interior blinds inside for the optimal management of the energy consumption.

The pitched roof in the lower part of the building in the ‘Light Zone’ will feature photovoltaic panels to generate electric power. There will also be heat pumps for the reduction of energy consumption by up to app. 25 pct, innovative fire prevention systems with lower water requirements compared to standard ones, along with fittings to minimise the demand for water, etc.

About: PLN 500 mln office tower in central Warsaw. It will certainly be the tallest and the largest office project in Echo’s current portfolio and may be the first of several office skyscrapers from Echo Investment. The architectural design has been prepared by the Kuryłowicz & Associates studio. Investment costs for the project will come to almost PLN 500 mln.

Developer: Ghelamco Floors: 220m (including the spire) Square meters: three buildings with a combined area of 100,000 sqm. The tower block will be 220m in height (49 floors). The two lower buildings will each have 15 storeys.

Estimated delivery date: late 2014 for lower buildings; 2015 for the tower.

About: Tenants of the complex already include the Frontex agency, which has leased an area of 14,000 sqm. Investment costs for the project are estimated at around PLN 1 bln. The investment is considered the biggest office complex currently being under construction in Europe. The complex will consist of a 220-meter-high tower building and two surrounding buildings of 55 meters each.

Developer: BBI Development/Archdiocese of Warsaw Floors: 180 metres Square meters: 55,000 Estimated delivery date: unclear About: In 2012, BBI Development unveiled its vision of a new high-rise project in the very heart of Warsaw – then delayed its implementation. BBI Development still intends, in partnership with the Archdiocese of Warsaw and St. Barbara’s Parish, to execute a new high-rise building project within the plot located at the junction of Emilii Plater and Nowogrodzka streets in Warsaw’s Śródmieście district.

“Our goal is to create a building of premium architectural quality, distinguished by its elegant form, moderation and functionality,” says Michał Skotnicki, President of BBI Development. The special purpose vehicle established in order to complete the project will create a building with an overall usable surface area of ca. 55,000 m2, rising to a height of ca. 180 metres. The preliminary urban design has been prepared by Juvenes – Projekt.

Liberty Tower

PHN Tower Developer: PHN S.A. Floors/height: 150 meters Estimated delivery date: Unclear

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Developer: Liberty Development Poland Floors: 36-storeys; 140 meters Square meters: 50,000 – 60,000 Estimated delivery date: Unclear About: Liberty Development Poland hopes to start construction work in Q2 2014. “We have two site development conditions decisions granted. One allows us to build a tall main tower to a height of 100m and another to build it up to 140m instead.

We currently have a final building permit for all the buildings, including the 100m tower, as well as permits for the reconstruction of the heating and power systems. However, we are planning to apply for a temporary building permit for the construction of the 140m skyscraper, which would have 36-storeys,” says Max Ebenstein, the president of Liberty Development Poland.

The company will deliver between 40,000 sqm and 59,000 sqm of office space to the market (in addition to the 6,000 sqm in the eightstorey frontage). If they build the tower up to 140m, the costs of the project will come to app. EUR 100 mln.

UBS Tower Developer: UBS Floors/height: 188 meters Square meters: 60,000 Estimated delivery date: 2017 About: Representatives of UBS confirmed that the Ilmet building (which is located opposite Rondo ONZ) is to be removed from the panorama of Warsaw in the second half of 2014. It will be replaced by an almost 190m skyscraper.

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ExpoReal

“Heard in the halls” of Expo Real Rafal Kulczycki – Director of the City Development Department of the City of Krakow At this year’s EXPO REAL Krakow presented on its own stand in a very modern twist , that was equipped with a broad range of multimedia tools, which pointed to the value of the economic potential of the city. The offer of Krakow at EXPO REAL included 24 attractive investment areas. Investors could familiarize with very interesting properties , both for the service development or housing . The selection also offered municipal investments , the realization of which would be using PPP formula.

In addition, this year’s fair also created an excellent opportunity to present to investors the “ Krakow - Nowa Huta of the Future” project, which aims , inter alia, at the preparation of the revitalization of brownfields, orientation of the development of the former steelworks protection zone and the opening of Nowa Huta area for future investments , including investments in modern business services .

Certainly EXPO REAL in Munich is among the largest and most prestigious fairs of its kind in Europe. At the same time participation in the fair is an excellent and efficient promotion of Krakow , not only in terms of investment . Therefore, the effect of the fair is certainly strengthening Krakow brand as a city that is an attractive location for investment.

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Emil Domeradzki, Senior Associate, Land, Colliers International The 2013 Expo Real should be, beyond any doubt, seen as a constructive and lively event. Based on talks with investors it was clear that they are very keen on keeping up with current investment activities.

Companies show their growing interest in specialised advisory services, which aim at optimising their commercial land investment strategy, by commissioning detailed analyses in preparation for the development or sale of commercial land.

Most investors’ comments regarding Poland listed the office and retail as high priority. At Colliers International we offered a wide array of real estate portfolios and struck up a number of new relationships, which have already developed into serious business talks.

Amongst those new relations there is one, perhaps most noteworthy. We established contact with a Russian investment fund which is making key decisions concerning entering Polish market, and we

are now supporting them in an advisory capacity and to analyse crucial strategic office and retail locations in Warsaw and its surroundings.

Furthermore, after a series of highly successful presentations shown during the expo, there have been fruitful developments in finding a potential buyer for the “Gdynia Waterfront” project, which should lead to a contract being signed by the first quarter of 2014.

Marcin Piatkowski, Invest in Pomerania: This year the cities of Gdansk, Gdynia, Sopot and Slupsk jointly promoted investment offers at the Expo Real in Munich within the Invest in Pomerania initiative.

Pomerania has a lot to offer.

Availability of properties makes the region extremely attractive location for the potential investors – says Marcin Piatkowski, Director of Invest in Pomerania. It is very important that we jointly as Invest in Pomerania promote our offers among the key players from the real estate industry.

Each city has its unique character, and thus presents different offer to investors. Sopot, which is the tourist attraction promoted primarily potential in the field of tourism and hotel business. Slupsk on the other hand offered opportunities for the development of production in a cost-effective location which is well connected with the national road network. Gdansk and Gdynia are the port cities which constitute important business centers. Therefore, offer of these municipalities included plots dedicated to industrial and logistics projects (e.g. Pomeranian Logistics Centre in Gdansk) as well as office facilities.

Anna Krupa, City of Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz participated as an exhibitor at the common stand of Province of Bydgoszcz which included : the cities of Bydgoszcz, Torun , Grudziadz, Wloclawek and representatives of the Marshal’s Office in Toruń. It was a unique opportunity to showcase real estate projects, and the economic potential of Bydgoszcz. The event, which is aimed at potential investors and developers has enabled the city to present

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ExpoReal the BPO/SSC sector and related office developments for the sector.

Marek Gajda, City of Radlin Radlin is an old mining town in Upper Silesia. In addition, the city is a major sports hub, with nearly 20 Polish Olympians from the region. Urban investment in recent years revolves around infrastructure and health, and the development of sport and recreation. Our presence at ExpoReal is our debut, and we are probably the smallest city present among the Polish stands.

We made good contacts, including with representatives of the construction industry, developers and certain cities regions in Europe, including Scotland and Serbia. We were also impressed with both the organizational logistics and panache with which Expo was organized. We also participate in investment fairs in the Czech Republic.

Maciej Grymowicz, Chief of Promotion, Metropolitan Association of Upper Silesia. For the second time, we had the biggest Polish stand at Expo Real 2013.

Talks were held by representatives of member cities, and they will be continued in the nearest future. More people interested in our region, more investors visited our stand and their expectations are becoming more specific.

Mr Przemyslaw Slusarski, Vice-President

our offers during individual meetings. The event created a perfect environment for interesting discussions with developers, investment funds and consulting firms providing consultancy services related to property management. Expo also contributed to the promotion of the city, while increasing its credibility with existing and potential customers.

Jolanta Ewa Gacka, Marshal Office of the Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship is one of the strongest economic regions in Poland. Here almost 13% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is being produced, which gives the Voivodeship the second place in the country. The share of the Silesian Province in the national exports amounts to 19.6%. The main export products are machinery and equipment, vehicles and accessories, electrical and electronic equipment, steel products, coal and coke. During this year’s Expo event many individual conversations with representatives of developers, but also from the IT industry and logistics have been made.

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Potential business partners inquired into details about the investment areas, were interested in the region or the exact location, but also in the opportunity to establish new business contacts.

Marcin Jedrzejczak, investor services center, City of Poznan We plan redevelopment of an old mill for the purpose of tourism and recreation, and to be developed within a public-private partnership format. Additionally, a priority is construction of a multi-storey car park system (also PPP). Infrastructure improvements include prolongation of many tram routes, a bus station with underground parking, P & R ( park and ride) and a B & R parking (bike & ride) as well as the reconstruction of a key tram route.

Poznan also has multiple real estate tenders on the near horizon, including a former hospital. Our presence at Expo Real improved our chances of acquiring private partners for joint ventures with the city.

We also see strong interest in Poland, including in the hotel market, and of course

of Grudziadz Grudziadz offers to its investors access to improved investment land, ultra-modern traffic solutions, efficient technical infrastructure, resources of highly motivated workforce, as well as the package of tax reliefs. As the A1 motorway interchange is completed now, the Grudziadz city offer has become significantly attractive to companies planning to expand in Poland or to locate new undertakings here. The companies that have already benefited from the city being attractively located in the centre of northern Poland include Jeronimo Martins and Rossmann which have decided to locate their distribution centres here. In view of the increasing competition for attracting investors between regions and cities of Central - Eastern Europe it is essential to present our own investment potential at EXPO REAL. During the trade fair, our main goal was to introduce potential partners in the logistics market with excellent conditions to invest in Grudziadz. The added value of the fair was an opportunity to exchange information and views with our business partners about the current situation on the market. n

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FDI Awards Gala

FDI Poland Investor Awards – Winners awarded in 15 categories

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At the FDI Awards Gala on 17 October in Warsaw (Hotel Intercontinental), 15 companies were distinguished for their leadership and direct investment in Poland. A Jury of 22 Chamber of Commerce chairmen and Commercial Counselors from Embassies voted to recognize the following companies.

Outsourcing,Transportation, Retail, Consumer Goods, Real Estate development, and Pharmaceuticals. Firms attending included KPMG, LOT Airlines, Immofinanz, the City of Knurow, Extor, Emmerson, Energa, Espirito Santo Investment Bank, Veolia, CFE Polska, PZL Swidnik (Agusta Westland), Miedzi Copper, Rathdowney Resources, IBM, Itella, Atos, Credit Suisse, Compensa, Netto, PolskiBus.com, Miss Polonia, Novostrat, Clariant, Infosys, Neinver, Roche Polska, Pratt&Whitney, HSBC, P&O Ferrymasters, 3M, Pittsburgh Glass Works, WSKRZ, Bank BGZ, Citibank, CEC Government Relations,

Final Winners:

Their decisions were based not only on the amount of investment and number of employees in Poland, yet also on the firm’s innovativeness, strategic importance to the Polish economy and leadership within its industry.

Nearly 200 guests attended from a wide range of industries including Aviation, Manufacturing, Food, IT, BPO/

PAIZ, BiznesPolska, Warimpex, Onet, Lionbridge, PKP Cargo, TPA Horwath, Enterprise Investors, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Bombardier, Regus, Metro and many more.

In a tough competition (78 firms were nominated) among world-class firms, the following firms took first place, and here’s why:

of 15 meters and 2,000 tons of pressure.

Another example is Metalcynk, whose operations will start at the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2013.

Top Technology Park: Bydgoszcz Industrial and Technological Park Bydgoszcz Industrial and Technological Park is one of the youngest and largest parks in Poland. It is located in the south-eastern part of Bydgoszcz on postindustrial ground and has an area of almost 280 ha. Currently a total of 51 companies operate in the park, some of which have the most modern equipment in their fields. For example, Airon Investment has Poland’s only, and one of Europe’s largest, press brakes with a total bending length

Top Special Economic Zone (SEZ): Katowice Special Economic Zone 52,000 employees in the Zone. KSEZ, with its 230 active investors and 5 billion euro

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FDI Awards Gala from goods cleared at the terminal. 2014 Plans: Purchase of additional STS (ship to shore crane), associated equipment and extension of yard area. This investments will boost DCT handling capabilities by 20% from 1.25M TEU annual capacity to 1.5M TEU.

Top Asian Investor of the Year: Toyota Motor Manufacturing

Katowice Special Economic Zone took first place

of invested capital, has usually been on the first place in the rankings comparing all14 SEZs in Poland. Katowice SEZ is primarily known for its automotive industry- more than 60% of investors are companies associated with this sector (GM Opel, Fiat, TRW, Brembo). A few R&D units are also operated by these companies. Katowice SEZ also has several major BPO firms, including Capgemini and Steria, Since 1996, when KSEZ was founded, it has strongly contributed to the industrial development of the Silesian region, decrease in unemployment as well as to the positive change of perception of the Silesia and Opole voivodships in the eyes of national and international investors.

Country Awards: Top Investor of the Year - Rest of World: DCT Gdansk SA (Australia).

Until the late-2000s, most Polish consumer goods imports were shipped to northern German, Dutch and Belgian ports, then trans-shipped to Gdynia or transported overland. The opening of DCT Gdansk for the first time enabled deep sea calls directly to the Baltic Sea, from where goods could be transported onwards by transhipment, rail or road. Since January 2010, DCT Gdansk, Poland’s only deep-sea terminal, started receiving on a weekly basis 8,000 TEU container vessels departing from the Far East bringing Polish imports, picking up Polish exports, and carrying transshipment to the key Baltic ports. Thanks to mutual cooperation with the world’s largest shipping line, resulting in YOY growth dynamics of 40%+ in the last two consecutive years, Gdansk in 2012 become the second largest port in the Baltic Region. DCT Gdansk is a greenfield investment owned

by Global Infrastructure Fund II, together with MTAA Superannuation Fund, Statewide Superannuation Trust and Westscheme Fund, all headquartered in Australia. The company generates millions of PLN income for the Polish government

2013 November

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Poland Sp. z o.o. is the biggest Toyota unit plant outside Japan. TMMP manufactures 1.0 petrol engines and manual as well as multi-mode transmissions. TMMP’s products are exported to various European countries and South Africa. TMMP is one of the biggest Polish exporters and a well-recognised

biggest retail chain, with over 40,000 employees - one of the biggest employers in Poland. The employees of Biedronka receive one of the most extensive benefit packages in the marketplace. By 2015 Biedronka intends to operate 3000 stores in Poland, with approximately 300 being opened annually.

Top French Investor of the Year: Hutchinson Hutchinson Worldwide invested more than 130 million euros in Poland, in 5 plants located in Łódź (2), Bielsko-Biała and Żywiec (2). All plants are focused on the automotive market, and Hutchinson Poland employs more than 4500 people. In addition to the five production sites, Hutchinson also operates IT technology and product development centers, and a shared services centre. The firm recently created high profile jobs for more than 50 engineers, and plans to invest in its sixth production plant in Zywiec and further develop activities in Lodz (product line expansion and more advanced technological support for the group operations).

Top Italian Investor of the Year: WSK PZL Swidnik (Agusta Westland) Toru Takeuchi, Toyota Motor

employer in the region, with production capacity of 371,000 engines/year. Toyota has invested in Wałbrzych approximately 2 bilion PLN. The investment includes six buildings and cutting-edge machines on forging, casting and assembly plants.

TMMP employs line workers as well as more than 200 highly-qualified engineers.

With over 60 years of experience and having produced over 7400 helicopters, PZLŚwidnik is the only Polish OEM with the capabilities to undertake helicopter design, research & development, system in-

Top Iberian Investor of the Year: Jeronimo Martins Polska S.A. Jeronimo Martins Polska S.A. is the owner of Biedronka, Poland’s largest retail chain, which operates over 2200 stores in more than 800 locations. From 2011 to 2013 Biedronka has invested in Poland over PLN 3.7 billion, mainly for expansion of the network of Biedronka stores.

Within that period, the number of stores has grown from 1649 to over 2200. In 2012 the stores of the network underwent a thorough modernization with particular stress on fresh focus philosophy. The expansion was accompanied by development of the distribution network in Poland.

From 2011 to 2013, four modern distribution centres equipped with state-of-theart IT tools supporting logistics have been constructed. Biedronka is also Poland’s

Donato Romanelli, Augusta Westland

tegration, manufacturing, support, training and upgrades. The company’s range of rotorcraft can perform the complete spectrum of commercial and government roles.

PZL-Świdnik is also a major industrial partner in the aerospace market, supplying aerostructures to many of the world’s leading aircraft manufacturers. PZL-Świdnik has been an AgustaWestland company since 2010.The investment includes all elements of R&D, manufacturing, technology/IT, business services, real estate and acquisition.

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FDI Awards Gala Top Benelux Investor of the Year: Philips Lighting Poland Philips Lighting Poland SA is a leading industrial investor in Poland. Since 1991 it has invested over Euro 400 million in Poland. It has four production sites in Piła, Kętrzyn, Biesko-Biała and Pabianice. It employs some 4600 people in Poland and is Poland’s 9th largest exporter. Exports generates 90% of companies revenues. In the period 2011-2013 Philips Lighting created some 150 jobs in Ketrzyn. Over 56% of these jobs are for highly qualified personnel (specialist and managerial posts).

Nearly 25% of these newly created jobs are within R&D and technology. Philips Lighting intends to make further investments in Ketrzyn, with plans to invest Pln 50 million within the next several years.

Nestlé Polska will invest about 93m CHF in the new factory of its Nestlé Purina business. It will be a new factory and distribution center located in the Wroclaw area, initially creating up to 200 new jobs. This will be Nestle’s 10th factory in Poland, and the 5th of Nestlé Polska S.A. Construction of the manufacturing building will start towards the end of 2013 and aims to be fully operational during the second half of 2014.

Top German or Austrian Investor of the Year: METRO With greater than Euro 100 million invested during the period 2011-2013, METRO GROUP opened 11 new retail outlets in Poland including 3 Makro Cash & Carry, 4 Media Markt and Saturn, and 4 Real’s.

Top Scandinavian Investor of the Year: IKEA Group While the iconic IKEA stores are well-know throughout Poland, IKEA Group’s other activities played a strong role in the Jury’s decision. In 2012, IKEA bought three wind farms in southeastern Poland, with the intention of eventually generating all of its substantial energy needs from renewable sources in Poland. The Group also owns the commercial real estate developer Swede Center, which is developing one of Warsaw’s largest office parks, and offices in more than four other Polish cities.

On the retail front, the company owns seven shopping parks and centres in Poland: in Gdansk, Lodz, Poznan, Wroclaw, Katowice and two in Warsaw.

Currently it is working on the extension of Park Handlowy Bielany in Wroclaw and the construction of a shopping centre in Lublin.

Top Swiss Investor of the Year: Nestle Polska

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Nestlé Polska S.A. has four factories in Poland (the 5th in the process of being built), and employs around 3100 people.

The portfolio consists of 50 brands and 1500 products, and Nestle is the biggest food producer in Poland. The company’s research and development budget is substantial: just in 2012 it was around 130 million PLN and it included extension of the factory in Kargowa and in Kalisz, and building new production for culinary products under WINIARY brand. To have the best people Nestle invests about 7.5 millon PLN annually in human capital like: supporting a culture of work-place safety, organizing trainings, planning careers internally, and creating a leadership culture.

Top British or Irish Investor of the Year: GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) 1665 employees.

The latest GlaxoSmithKline investment of over 17 million euros was made for the opening of a new facility in GSK’s Polish factory in Poznań, which manufactures innovative soft gelatin capsules. The investment covered a purchase of new manufacturing machines, modernization of technology and an innovative system of environment protection. The factory in Poznań is one of two in the world and the only one in Europe manufacturing plant of GSK, which produces drugs in such form. The production from the new facility goes to over 100 countries around the world. This investment is one of many made by GSK in Poland during last 15 years - the total amount of investment has reached more than 355 mln euros. Center of Business Services (BSC) and the Global Post Approval Registration (GPAR) are constantly increasing employment. The BSC, based in Poznań, provides service to almost half of the GSK’s world markets in the IT field. The employment in the Center has increased in the past two years by more than 70 employees, making the Center a workplace for almost 250 highly-qualified IT specialists.

Top Canadian Investor of the Year: Bombardier Transportation Polska Renata Juszkiewicz,Metro

Approximately 1000 employees in four locations. Bombardier Transportation is the biggest international investor in the Polish

METRO GROUP in Poland manages a total of 159 large sales area outlets. METRO also recently opened its own shared- services center METRO SERVICES PL in Szczecin, handling F&A processes for the METRO GROUP. The opening of each location supports local markets by working with companies providing services such as cleaning, security, etc., creating new jobs, and improving local road infrastructure.

The increase in the number of stores are supports the development of Polish enterprises, including networks of about 3,000 manufacturers and suppliers, who therefore constantly develop their business.

Makro C & C is working intensively to promote traditional Polish trade - a wide range of advisory services, and above all started (in 2011) a very successful franchise model - ODIDO – which 2,000 retailers have joined. Benefits: Employees of METRO GROUP receive a number of additional social benefits such as packages for holidays, funding for children’s recreation, loans or financial assistance. Employees are entitled to free medical care in private medical facilities.

Janusz Kucmin, Bombardier

rail transportation industry. Main locations in Poland: Katowice, Lodz, Warsaw and Wroclaw. Its wide range of business activities includes the production of railway vehicles, car-bodies, bogie frames for high-speed and regional trains, trams and metro cars; design and production of rail control and signaling systems; the production of electric devices and equipment; maintenance of railway vehicles.

Bombardier has delivered several vehicles

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FDI Awards Gala

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FDI Awards Gala to Polish operators including locomotives, double-deck coaches, trams and additionally aircraft to Polish airlines EUROLOT.

Top American Investor of the Year: IBM Operating in Poland since 1991, IBM opened with just 40 employees. With headquarters in Warsaw, and offices in Katowice, Poznan, Wroclaw and Krakow, IBM Poland now employs more than 7000 employees. The Wrocław Delivery Center (DC) aims to provide high quality IT services to customers around the world and employs above 3,000 high-class special-

2012 IBM launched also its Cyber Security Operation center, the second in Europe after Brussels. Since early 2010, just in Wrocław, IBM has hired over 3500 highly-skilled professionals. The newest investment of IBM in Poland is its Delivery Center in Katowice which will start operations in September 2013, and where up to 2000 professionals will find jobs in the next years. The Centre is investing in creating expertise in technologies expected to become competitive market standards during the coming years, such as Cloud Computing services, Business Continuity services, High Availability techniques, and Business Monitoring tools. In addition, the Centre is building up a set of Centres of Excellence, where investment focuses on creating skills of the highest level able to provide in “Run-Once” mode, best-inclass technical and architectural support to worldwide Customer services in specific technical areas.

FDI Investor of the Decade: Intel Technology Poland

IBM

ists. The basis of the center is to provide strategic IT services, covering the full range of hardware, maintenance of servers and network connections, as well as the final service for global customers. In

With investment of more than Euro 250 million during the period 2011-2013, Intel Technology’s combination of large investment, and top IT engineering jobs impressed the Jury. Intel produces software for Intel chipsets mainly in capacities of audio, speech recognition, USB 3.0, BIOS and Perceptual Computing. It also co-creates and tests the software for ‘Perceptual Computing’ used at Intel’s platforms, such

as computers, tablets or mobiles. The firm is also developing platforms based on devices which use unique possibilities of integrated circuits (processors and chipsets) for Intel services. Plans for 2014: Hiring mainly within 3 different groups (Interns, Graduates, and Experienced).

“Experienced “ group contains such specialties like: Embedded software engineers, Software Engineers, Architects, Sales Managers, HR Specialists, and Multilingual candidates.

The inaugural event, MC’ed by Thom Barnhardt of BiznesPolska and BizPoland Magazine and Ewa Kotlewska of Onet, and audited by TPA Horwath, attracted a multitude of international guests, including from the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Ireland, United Arab Emirates, China, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Hungary, Latvia, and Israel. n

The next FDI Poland Investor Awards is set for 16 October 2014. For more details and full Gallery of pictures from the event: www.FDIPolandAwards.pl

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November 2013

www.bizpoland.pl

Advisory

Growing pressure on tax optimised intra-group structures Matthew O’Shaughnessy

The Polish Ministry of Finance is not the only fiscal authority in Europe fighting so-called tax optimised structures. New anti-optimisation regulations are being introduced in many countries, including such traditionally liberal jurisdictions as the Netherlands and Ireland.

Throughout 2012 and 2013 the Polish Ministry of Finance has worked energetically to change the legal framework underpining the most common tax optimised structures.

New double tax treaties have been signed with Cyprus and Luxembourg. Revisions to tax treaties with Slovakia and UAE are expected shortly. The favourable taxation rules applicable to Spółki Komandytowe Akcyjne (SKA) will almost certainly change from 1 January 2014. We should expect more restrictive thin capitalisation rules to be introduced shortly as well as controlled foreign companies (CFC) regulations. The Ministry is talking of major overhaul to the Tax Ordinance Code. In the meantime the authorities continue to scrutinise transfer pricing and, since mid-2013, are equipped with broader powers to assess taxable income arising from all forms of internal Group restucturing, such as mergers, acquisitions, business spin-offs and so forth.

The steps being taken in Poland are mirrored by similar activity in other European countries. Under pressure from OECD and EU there is a concerted effort to open-up the exchange of information between tax authorities. This is a broad initiative relating not just to traditionally secretive jurisdictions such as Switzerland. All new double tax treaties signed by Poland will contain the so-called automatic exchange of information clause. There are new disclosure procedures with respect to US transactions under recently introduced FACTA rules. In short there is methodical work in progress to open the flow of accounting and tax related data between tax authorities. This means tax planning of cross border transactions will be more closely monitored in 2014 and 2015 than at present.

In the area of international tax planning there are many areas worth focusing on.

For now I would like to mention four topics, which merit particular attention. These are: the new substance tests for Dutch holding companies, transfer pricing documentation, the taxation of business transfers between related parties from one jurisdiction to another and the tax treatment of intercompany guarantees.

2013 November

Automatic System of Information Exchange in Netherlands with other OECD tax residents The Dutch authorities recently announced the introduction of new guidelines related to exchange information. These will permit other tax authorities to „test“ whether a Dutch Holding Company meets the substance requirements to allow benefits derived under double tax treaties to apply.

These guidelines will likely apply from 1 January 2014. Information will be passed by the Dutch authorities to Competent Authorities in other countries with whom a tax treaty provides for automatic exchange of informat ion. The new guidelines will not jeopardise the traditional Dutch holding company regime unless a taxpayer’s structure is engineered exclusively for tax purposes. An example of abuse would be a Dutch holding company established purely as a conduit vehicle, which contains no substance in the form of premises, management, staff, bearing of business risks etc. In such case treaty partners may conclude that the Dutch holding company exists solely for tax purposes and may not benefit from the tax relief provided under tax treaties normally available for bona-fide holding companies.

Practical aspects of preparing transfer pricing documentation Another area of concern to many Polish taxpayers is the preparation of transfer pricing documentation. It is worth checking the requirements and best practices for transfer pricing documentation and benchmarking analysis in other European countries to avoid duplication of effort around the group.

The EU joint transfer pricing forum has set out an approach to „EU Masterfile” to reduce the transfer pricing burden for multinational companies in specific jurisdictions.

The question is how are these requirement applied in practice and what is the approach to the benchmarking. If Groups have better awareness of the international rules and practice they can cut down on compliance time and cost spent here in Poland.

Deemed taxable income in case of „exiting“ a business Another hot topic is the deemed taxable income arising on so-called business exits.

Many EU countries have specific tax rules to calculate taxable income on the transfer of certain business functions or client contracts to a related company in another jurisdiction

Matthew O’Shaughnessy

We should expect that the taxation rules and practises in other countries such as Germany and Sweden, will be introduced eventually in Poland. The transfer pricing decree introduced on 1 July 2013 arguably already provides the Polish authorities a basis for such a tax assessment although the particular article in the decree is far from clear.

Many questions will arise on how to determine the value of the transferred business or function and the corresponding tax base.

Tax treatment of intercompany guarantees A fourth subject under the spotlight is tax treatment of intercompany guarantees.

Frequently international capital groups or holding companies provide daughter companies with guarantees as security against local country bank loans or obligations from trade contracts. Such guarantees are often provided free of charge within the Group. Where such guarantees are provided free tax offices are seeking to tax income as an unpaid benefit for the recipient of the guarantee. Issues arise as to how to calculate the value of the guarantees for tax. Recent Polish court rulings have provided some interesting input in this area.

International tax conference - Warsaw, 15 November 2013 These and other topics will be discussed further during a half-day international tax conference, which Taxplan is organising on 15 November 2013 in Villa Foksal in Warsaw. The conference speakers will include experienced tax advisers from 6 European countries. There will also be an opportunity for attendees to arrange individual consulations related to specific business issues. n

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Advisory

Disaster on the horizon: renewable energy support system unlawful Unfortunately, Poland thinks that European Union requirements are optional or elective.

Randy Mott

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Most forms of state aid to industry require an advanced clearance with the Commission. State aid that distorts competition is precluded by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Four years after the Commission found a virtually identical UK “green certificate” program for renewable energy to be technically “state aid,” the Polish Government in 2005 ignored the notification requirement for its own Green Certificate program. This means that all green certificates and substitution fees produced by the system since 2005 are “unlawful” under the Treaty since they were put in place without approval by Brussels. The mandatory remedy in such cases is recovery of the funds. That means all recipients of Green Certificates since 2005 would have to “give them back” (possibly directly to the electricity consumers who paid for them in the end). It means that all National Environmental Fund loans and grants using substitution fees from the RES system would have to be repaid, and that all Green Certificates now held as “assets” would be useless.

The normal cure for such an oversight is ex post facto notification and approval by Brussels. While this would be an extreme case of a retroactive fix, it is never the less plausible in this case. The hitch is that approval by the Commission requires compliance with the guidelines on state aid for environmental protection – an impossible hurdle for Polish Green Certificates as they are now structured.

Two problems exist in the current Green Certificate program as far as state aid rules are concerned. Together they affect about 70% of the certificates awarded and the seriousness of the situation cannot be overstated. First, the support for co-firing coal with biomass at the full value of the support scheme provides disproportionate economic gain to the co-firers and has distorted competition.

A single technology cannot receive wildly

Randy Mott

more favorable treatment under the competition rules. Under the Energy Law, all forms of renewable energy covered by its provisions receive the same support, i.e. one Green Certificate per MWhr. While this is seemingly neutral on its face, the fact is that all other forms of renewable energy, except co-firing, involve construction of electrical production facilities. The Institute for Renewable Energy, which was officially tapped last year to collect cost data for various technologies to provide for adjustments called correction factors, concluded in an unofficial report that co-firing biomass with coal only requires a maximum of 0.13 green certificates per MWhr to be profitable. The IRR for co-firing at 100% certificate value is over 120% or roughly ten times the other technologies.

In preparing a new law, the Polish Ministry of Economy has actually prepared a tentative levelized cost estimate. Under the proposal, co-firing starts a one-third its current level and is phased off of support in a few years.

The Institute for Renewable Energy, which was subsequently selected by the Ministry of Economy to verify renewable energy costs across technologies, observed that co-firing arguably requires no governmental support at all or only 13% of the full certificate value (over a short term period for amortization). So

an equal playing field for various renewable energy technologies would result in co-firing receiving substantially lower support than the other technologies, based on the proportionate amount of subsidy required to induce investment in an open market. Old hydro plants would not receive any support under the last Ministry of Economy draft law.

At this juncture, Poland has billions of zlotys in unlawful aid including all the certificates and substitution fees. The situation goes from hypothetical to reality since the Commission is investigating a complaint on the subject. Without any action, a massive recovery effort is legally required by the EU that would affect the entire energy sector, including all Green Certificates and substitution fees. Curing the problem requires notification and approval and that, in turn, requires revision of the system. The cure would restrict recovery actions to only those certificates deemed to be “incompatible aid,” i.e. cofiring (above its actual cost) and old hydro.

As bad as the cure looks, the untreated “disease” is far worse. The first step is a prospective adjustment and it should not be delayed.

Poland does not have the option, now discussed, of starting a new auction system without fixing the old system. To keep up this pretext is the height of irresponsibility by the government. The Commission appears to be ready at this point to enforce the treaty requirements by some private accounts in the last month. Apparently there have been some communications between the Commission and the Polish Government.

Recovery of the green certificates and substitution fees would create a massive dysfunctional calamity. The time for ignorance or even gamesmanship with Brussels is clearly over.

Mr. Mott holds a JD from Georgetown University and practiced law in Washington DC for twenty years before moving to Poland.

He is active in the renewable energy sector in Poland and has also lectured on EU environmental law at the Łazarski School of Law and Commerce, Warsaw. He is chairman of an upcoming conference in Warsaw, “State Aid and Renewable Energy: Can Competition Survive Intervention?” featuring legal experts from throughout Europe, January 14-15, 2014, Warsaw.

November 2013

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Advisory

Trouble ahead for Tusk Over the last few years, politics have not been hugely interesting in Poland. Of course, there have been policy surprises, scandals of one degree or another, and the usual to-ing and fro-ing of political argument.

By Marek Matraszek

But the fundamental facts of political life in Poland seemed set in stone: a dominant political party in the shape of the Civic Platform (PO), and a divided and introspective opposition, with elections serving only to underline the supremacy of the PO and the seeming unelectability of Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Now, those certainties are being dramatically whittled away by a combination of long-term political decline in the electability of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and a series of short-term upsets that make the possibility of a political shift in the upcoming series of political elections more likely than ever before.

Donald Tusk’s key problem is a seemingly permanent loss of credibility among core voter groups to whom he owes his political success over the last decade. When the Civic Platform party was established in the early 2000s, there was clear sense of what it stood for: it was essentially an anti-establishment party, and a voice for the long-disenfranchised middle class, understood as entrepreneurs, people concerned about their taxes, and the young.

The overarching theme for these groups was seeing in the Civic Platform a party that would create the legal and cultural framework to ensure success for the aspirational part of the population, increasingly frustrated both by bureaucracy and parties that were in one form or another socialist in their economic policies. In addition to that core vote, there were of course voters who looked to the PO as the champion of Poland’s European aspirations, as well as those who were suspicious of Polish traditional conservatism.

Most pollsters agree that the reason for the PO’s increasingly weak electoral position is the perception by that core

2013 November

Marek Matraszek, Founding Partner of CEC Government Relations

electorate that the PO has turned away from the values that caused them to support the party in previous elections. Those voters are not looking to other parties – which they see as even less representative of their interests – but are inclined to stay at home, alienated from their party of choice. From being an anti-establishment party, the PO has in their eyes become increasingly a “trade union of the ruling class”, as the media continues to report on nepotism and the relationship between party membership and having jobs in state or local government-controlled companies and agencies. The failure of the PO government and the Ministry of Finance to prepare public opinion for the scale of the problems of the country’s budget deficit has led to a loss of faith in the government’s managerial prowess, as well as disappointment at the increasing fiscal squeeze that the government has had to institute to control the ballooning budget deficit. The latest controversy, over the Government’s plans to emasculate the national private pension system as a shortterm measure to reduce the national debtto-GDP ratio, has also been perceived by many long-time PO voters as a grab on private assets.

It is probably among the youth vote that the PO has lost its greatest support.

In previous elections, the PO has won by the ability to mobilise its key supporters,

especially the young, arguing that a victory of the opposition Law and Justice would result in a backward and “embarrassing” (the Polish word is “obciach”) government at a time when Poland needs to be putting forward a modern face in Europe. Unfortunately, unemployment among the 18-25 age group continues to be dramatically high, and most young people are voting with their feet and leaving the country for work abroad. By the time of the 2015 parliamentary elections, there will be 18-year old voters who will have been barely 10 years old when PiS were last in power – hardly electors with political memories of the past to play on.

Whereas until recently it was cool to be anti-PiS, a quick scour of internet chat sites show that it is now PM Tusk and the PO party that are the butts of mercilessly acidic humour and satire.

Problematic also for PM Tusk is the fact that although the PO has historically styled itself as a “civic” party, promoting grass-roots social and political activism, in recent months the practice of the party has been to demobilise voters and denigrate civil society initiatives.

The campaign by the party encouraging Warsaw voters NOT to participate in the recent recall referendum of Warsaw President Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz – thereby rendering the ballot invalid - albeit undertaken for good tactical political reasons, has increased the chances that a “remobilization” of the PO electorate in other local and national elections will be more difficult. A similar current governmental campaign to delegitimize a move to force a national referendum on school attendance age (backed by a national petition with a million signatures) also casts doubt on the government’s pro-civic credentials.

Of course, elections are not only won, they are also lost. It is quite feasible that the opposition PiS party will be unable to capitalise on their current opponents’ weaknesses, and that although PO will lose votes, it will still survive in power with different coa lition partners. But the prospect of a sea change in Polish politics in the near future looks today much more likely than at any point in the last six years.

Marek Matraszek is the Founding Partner of CEC Government Relations, www.cecgr.com.

He can be contacted by email at mm@cecgr.com

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BPO/Shared Services

Graphite Capital sells Alexander Mann Solutions Graphite Capital, a leading UK mid-market private equity specialist, has sold Alexander Mann Solutions (AMS), the global provider of talent acquisition and management services, for £260 million.

AMS was founded by chief executive Rosaleen Blair, a pioneer of recruitment process outsourcing (RPO). Graphite backed the management buy-out of AMS in December 2007. Shortly thereafter, it supported the acquisition of Capital Consulting, the second largest dedicated RPO provider in the UK. Graphite has worked closely with the management team to transform the business. During Graphite’s ownership, AMS has increased its range of services, refined its business model and expanded its global infrastructure. Its net fee income has doubled to nearly £100 million in 2012 with staff numbers growing from 900 to almost 2,000. AMS’ portfolio of predominately multinational clients has doubled to 65 and includes Rolls-Royce, Deloitte, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Freshfields, Microsoft, Origin Energy, Vodafone, BAE Systems and Novartis. AMS supports its clients in over 75 countries and has client service centres in the UK, North America, Poland and the Philippines. It also has regional offices in London, New York, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Melbourne.

The transaction provides Graphite with a total return of 3.5 times its initial investment, continuing its strong track record of acquiring and developing companies in the

McCormick global spices firm to set up Shared Services operation in Poland McCormick said it will undertake reorganization of its EMEA regional operations in order to produce savings of $10 million annually by 2015. As part of the plans, the company said it intends to use a local, thirdparty distributor to replace its Netherlands operations, as well as centralize shared service activity across its EMEA region into Poland.

Netto to open new shared services operation

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Currently Netto Poland has 292 stores and two distribution warehouses on the Polish market. This gives the Danish retail chain the third position on the Polish discount market. The network is best-known in southern, western and northern Poland. In September last year, Netto started to build

business services sector. Past investments include PSD Group, Huntress and NES Global Talent. Graphite remains an investor in Education Personnel, the UK’s leading provider of supply teachers and support staff to schools, and TMP Worldwide, the UK’s largest recruitment employer branding and communications agency.

The disposal of AMS represents Graphite’s fifth successful exit in 12 months. Commenting on the transaction, Rosaleen Blair, AMS’ chief executive, said: “In partnership with Graphite, Alexander Mann Solutions has become a truly global firm that helps companies to acquire, manage and develop their most talented staff.

After six years of tremendous support and guidance from Graphite, we are in a very

strong position to realise the next stage of our business strategy.”

Graphite senior partner Mike Tilbury said: “AMS has become a world-class business and the leader in an exciting niche global market. Under our ownership, and with strong leadership from Rosaleen, AMS’ business model has been transformed, underpinning its significant profit growth. The quality and breadth of its customer base, the strength of its service proposition and the size of its new business pipeline place AMS in a great position to continue its growth trajectory.”

Senior partners Mike Tilbury and Simon Fitch, together with partners Jenny Michelman and Mudassir Khan, managed the transaction for Graphite. Robert W. Baird advised Graphite on the sale. n

its third distribution center in Kopytkowo in Pomerania. This will give the chain an opportunity to develop in central and Eastern Poland. According to CEO Kent Petersen, this year a new service center will be opened.

capacity, providing fund accounting and investment operations services, as well as providing support for the business units involved in the provision of global services and investment services.

BNY Mellon to hire 400 people The global financial conglomerate, based in the United States, said it will continue with a fast expansion of its existing Wroclaw global services center.

30 new employees will support the subsidiary Eagle Investment Systems dedicated to technologies related to financial services and help them to sell their solutions for data management, investment accounting and measurement of financial performance.

BNY Mellon operates in Wroclaw since 2010 and currently employs more than 200 people. Employees work,in a global

Poznan to host ABSL conference in 2014 Business services association ABSL has chosen Poznan as the location of its 2014 annual conference. According to president Pawel Panczyj, the final date will be decided soon, and will likely be in either May or September, depending on the availability of the keynote speaker.

ASPIRE conference in May in Krakow Association ASPIRE, based in Krakow, has announced the date of its annual con BPO sector: 14-15 May in Krakow at the hotel Sheraton. n

November 2013

www.bizpoland.pl Shares in vodka maker Stock Spirits fall on London debut Drinks maker Stock Spirits fell on its London stock market debut, after the shares were priced at the mid-point of its target range in a sale that valued the company at 470 million pounds. The British based-firm, the biggest vodka producer in Poland and the Czech Republic, said majority owner Oaktree Capital Management and company managers had raised 206.5 million pounds from the offering.

Chief Executive Christopher Heath will bank nearly 2 million pounds from the sale of some of his 2.8 percent stake, according to the company`s offer prospectus. Stock Spirits, whose drinks range from high-end Polish vodka Czysta de Luxe to fruit-flavoured liqueurs and Italian brandies, was established in 2007 when U.S. private equity firm Oaktree merged Czech business Stock with its Polish counterpart Polmos Lublin.

Oaktree looked at selling the company in 2011, pursuing a possible deal with the world`s biggest spirits group Diageo and then later considering a listing on the Warsaw bourse before eventually deciding to keep hold of it. Stock Spirits priced the sale of a 55 percent stake at 235 pence per share, the middle of its original 210p

Equities News to 260p range. There were orders for four times the number of shares on offer at the IPO price, a person familiar with the matter said. Based on 2012 earnings, as earnings forecasts have not been made available, the offer price puts Stock Spirits on an EV/EBITDA multiple of around 8.4 times.

That is a discount to much larger groups such as Diageo and Pernod, which own large portfolios of top-shelf international brands that reap higher profit margins in developed Western markets. Those two companies trade on forward EV/EBITDA multiples of 13.9 and 12.6 times respectively, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Source:

A Tepid View of Eastern Europe ETFs Amid a raucous year for emerging markets equities, Poland has been a bright spot. While the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF is lower by 1.4%, the iShares MSCI Poland ETF is up nearly 10%. The Market Vectors Poland ETF is also higher by 10%. At least one global bank thinks the time is right to take profits in Polish equities. JPMorgan downgraded Poland to underweight, citing the country’s pension fund reform efforts and stretched valuations, among other reasons.

“We think the re-rating of the Polish financials has gone too far. The biggest sector in Poland, financials, is now more than 2 SD expensive versus both Turkey and Russia on both 12m Forward PE and 12m Forward P/BV”, the bank said in a note posted by Barrons.

Assuming JPMorgan’s view of Polish banks is accurate, that could be problematic for EPOL and PLND, which allocate 51.5% and 39.9%, respectively, to the financial services sector. However, the assessment of Polish banks does not necessarily factor in Poland’s solid currency, the zloty, and a current account surplus, a prized trait for emerging markets investors in the current market environment.

“While valuations in Poland look overstretched, consensus EPS revisions look worse in Poland than the other big CEEMEA markets. We want to avoid expensive markets with deteriorating earnings, said JPMorgan, Barrons re ported. EPOL and PLND are up an average of nearly 19% in the past 90 days, so perhaps a case can be made that valuations are a tad stretched in Poland. That does not mean cheaper emerging markets are guaranteed to perform better. Over the past month, the two Poland ETFs have offered better than double the returns off RSX, the largest and most heavily traded Russia ETF. n

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2013 November

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Equities News TPSA telco on cost cutting potential, WP sale, market Following are highlights from telco group TPSA earnings webcast hosted by firm`s top officials.

SALE OF WIRTUALNA POLSKA PORTAL: Signing will not happen before Q1 2014. . . . The price range? Well, Wirtualna Polska made some PLN 170-175 mln revenues and a margin of 25% so a bit more than PLN 40 mln so I let you find the multiple and you have the price. - CFO Jacques de Galzain POTENTIAL TO INCREASE DIVIDEND: It is too early. . . the right moment to discuss it will be in February. - CEO Bruno Duthoit PRICE FOR MOBILE SPECTRUM: when asked if TPSA would consider paying more than PLN 2 bln for mobile spectrum, the CFO admitted the sum was considerable but at the same time reminded that the auction is very important for TPSA. TPSA previously said it had prepared a PLN 1-2 bln budget for frequency purchases.

EBITDA OUTLOOK FOR 2014: Let`s be patient, you will know a little bit more in the beginning of the next year. - CFO COST REDUCTION: As we continue cost optimization, we will continue to have cost savings in Q4 and following Qs . . . we will be as pushy as we were in reducing costs. Further reduction of headcount: We will negotiate a new social plan for the future. and the level of optimization for next year will be decided with the trade unions. TPSA also sees room for optimization in commercialization costs. - CFO VALUE MARKET SHARE IN MOBILE: It`s true it declined a little bit y/y . . .but it is

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still a priority - we will try to maintain value share in coming quarters, it is an absolute priority. - CEO MERGER OF FIXED AND MOBILE OPERATIONS: We do not assume any significant cost reduction coming from the merger, it is primarily done to support convergence. . . There will be some effects but not material from our perspective. - CEO of PTK Centertel Mariusz Gaca EU FINE TPSA FACES: I don`t think we will have to pay before Q2 or even Q3 next year . . . We will pay something for sure, we don`t know what discount we will have. - CFO NJU.MOBILE: The offer is an effective weapon in low price segment without harming the mainstream offer. - CEO; Of nju.mobile new clients around 70% are coming from competition, from all competitors but currently we win the most from T-Mobile. and nju. mobile is not only low price offer but

also low-cost offer and the company is committed to keep low distribution and e-care costs - VP in charge of marketing and strategy Vincent Lobry.

CONVERGENCE: Convergence gives the company a great opportunity of upsell.

Early effects of convergence include growing demand for mobile data, fixed broadband APRU increase, slower decline of net fixed voice client count.

Churn level among those clients who have more products is five times lower than among those who have 1 product. CEO of PTK Centertel COMPETITION: Commercial activity will be very strong in Q4 . . . we have weapons ready, we are closely looking at competition`s moves . . . if we need, we will adapt to be able to take even more of the market. - CFO

PKP Cargo - Treasury hopes for bump to support next IPO Polish rail operator PKP appears to have satisfied its hunger in the ongoing IPO of its cargo unit, apparently holding off from seeking higher bids after covering the books as many as four times over at PLN 68 per share, three Warsaw-based buy siders tell PAP. “They could easily go higher, but don`t seem to wish to, a local investment fund manager told PAP in chorus with managers around Warsaw. One local fund manager suspects that PKP Cargo management is under pressure from its owners at the State Treasury to secure a strong market debut in order to drum up positive sentiment for an ensuing IPO of power distributor Energa. I doubt the Energa investment story is as appealing as PKP Cargo, that individual said, so they may not wish to sell at PLN 70 or 72, which would look really easy. Heavy oversubscription, at or above 4x, will put heavy reduction on existing bids. Books had been covered at PLN

November 2013

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Equities News

67, market insiders told PAP. The IPO concerns 21.7 mln shares, currently owned by PKP Cargo`s parent PKP. The remaining 50% plus one share will be subject to 180 days lockup.

Asseco Poland`s revenues from ZUS KSI contract Listed IT firm Asseco Poland has received net PLN 183 mln in 2013 for development and maintenance of KSI IT system for social insurance board ZUS, ZUS press office told PAP. During the three years of the agreement which is now coming to an end Asseco received net PLN 621 mln, ZUS informed. On October 9, ZUS and Asseco Poland signed a new gross PLN 595.77 mln 4-year agreement with ZUS for maintaining the KSI system. The tender for developing the system is yet to be concluded.

Investment funds may attract PLN 25-50 bln inflows in coming years Skarbiec CEO

KGHM copper CEO on 2013 guidance, nuclear power, its stake in Tauron et al.

Polish TFI investment houses may record an inflow of PLN 25-50 bln of new assets in the coming years, which should support a bull market on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, Skarbiec Holding investment house CEO Marek Rybiec told PAP. “We believe that the trend of growing inflows to investment funds will continue in the coming years, Rybiec said. “The forecasts that some PLN 25-50 bln may flow into funds are not exaggerated, even if sales of debt funds participation units are stalled.”

According to data from the fund and asset managers chamber IZFiA, over PLN 26 bln in funds flowed into TFI in the 12 months to end-September 2013. Investors may be attracted to TFIs due to low interest rates, which may stay at the present level until end-2014, and due to aggressive marketing from banks seeking to raise their fee incomes in the low interest rate environment, the expert believes. Inflows into both equity and debt investments may be supported by Poland`s economic recovery, Skarbiec deputy CEO Piotr Kuba believes, and “we are now potentially facing 10+ quarters of healthy, stable economic growth driven by investments, consumption and exports”, Kuba said. “It seems to us that from the point of view of longterm savings now is the time to enter the T-bond market as yields at the long end of the curve went up strongly and there is a high coupon to be earned. As far as equities are concerned, in the long term and with a good economic situation the large-cap indexes may increase by 100% and of small companies - by 150%, he added.

Following are highlights of listed copper and silver miner KGHM CEO Herbert Wirth speaking for TVN CNBC. 2013 GUIDANCE: We are not changing the 2013 guidance. We will publish the final result. . . Today I can say with full responsibility that there is no reason to change guidance. On guidance realisation: I will say honestly that it is good.

LISTING IN TORONTO: We`ve been mulling various options, including a return to the stock exchange in Toronto with KGHM International assets. . . We don`t see it as dual-listing, rather as re-listing. The number of shares to be potentially floated will depend on discussion with the lead shareholder. If the owner decides that a listing is not possible, we will argue. We see business sense in it for KGHM. COPPER PRICES: Much below our forecasts.

NUCLEAR POWER: KGHM should secure a proper amount of electrical energy at decent prices in the long-term. . . CO2 emission [allowance prices] must rise, so such an investment as nuclear power generation seems sensible. Our strategy is first of all securing a good price. . .

STAKE IN TAURON: We`ve had 10.4% since the beginning. Our target is 10.4%.

SIERRA GORDA OUTLAYS: Today we estimate it at some USD 4 bln.

METALS TAX: I am obliged to review the effects of this tax. . . I think there will be circumstances to discuss this. Wirth will suggest certainly a lower rate but still fair, taking into account how this tax is shaped in other countries.

2013 November

Source: PAP

MLP Group real estate allots all shares offered in IPO Polish-based warehouse operator MLP Group has allotted all 3.77 mln shares offered in the framework of an IPO at PLN 24 apiece, the firm said in a press statement. The value of the IPO thus reached the planned PLN 90.6 mln. The offer covered 3,773,595 shares, including 3,018,876 new C-series shares and 754,719 existing A-shares belonging to the current shareholder Cajamarca Holland. Retail investors subscribed for 470,282 shares, above 377,360 offered in that tranche, so the reduction rate amounted to 19.8%, the firm said. Institutional investors subscribed for the number of shares in line with the offering at 3,396,235, but book-building had shown demand five times exceeding that number, the statement read.

MLP Group plans to debut on the WSE on October 28.

Poland maintains plans to auction 800 MHz frequencies in 2013 Poland`s telecom market regulator UKE sticks to its plan of launching the tender for 800 MHz frequency bands in 2013 and expects to issue reservation decisions by April 2014, UKE head Magdalena Gaj told a news conference. “We want the auction to be launched this year”, Gaj said. “In November we plan to publish the tender documentation; at present we are at the consultation stage and we will analyze the opinions submitted by market participants. UKE expects to issue reservation decisions for 800 MHz frequencies in Q1 2013 or in April 2014 at the latest”. the official added.

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Equities News Poland plans to tender five 800 MHz frequency bands and seven 2.6 GHz frequency bands with a PLN 250 mln and PLN 50 mln asking price per band, respectively, UKE said in August in a statement on launching tender consultations. Each competing entity will be entitled to no more than two frequency bands in the 800 MHz range and three frequencies in the 2,6 GHz range, UKE said. In the 1800 MHz frequency tender concluded in mid-February, telecom market regulator UKE offered three 1800 MHz frequency bands to mobile operator P4 and two to its peer PTC for a total consideration of PLN 950 mln.

Poland will take 51.5% of end-January pension fund assets to kick off reform

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Polish pension funds will transfer 51.5% of their end-January 2014 AuM back to the state in the opening shot of a reform that will make participation in the partially privatized portion of the system optional and free the rump pension funds from a highly regulated investment regime. Draft legislation, published by the Labor Ministry, largely met the outline set out by policy makers in early September and confirmed heady fiscal gains for Poland on the move. Poland will force the 13 existing funds to hand over the assets by February 3, reaching first for Treasury debt and Treasurybacked securities, then dipping into cash and other assets to make the 51.5% mark.

Pension funds could have to hand over a chunk of cash and other assets to make the mark. Poland set the 51.5% mark to match the end-2012 allocation in such papers, but the 13 regulated funds were down neighborhood 3 pps in allocation at end-September.

Pension funds face nearly four months of peculiar investment strategy, protecting liquidity ahead of transfer day and trading a fixed-income portfolio that will simply be gone February 4. By law, the funds will have to plot their investments to secure an allocation in Treasury papers, state-backed infrastructure bonds and other state-guaranteed financial assets to match or exceed the allocation they had on September 3, 2013, the day before the reform was first announced. The rump funds will little resemble the balanced growth funds they have been to date. They will be forced to keep their equity allocation at no less than 75%, but, after a transition period to endJune, have all other investment guidelines lifted.

To meet a European Court of Justice ruling, the foreign asset allocation will be put

up to the 30% mark in stages to 2016. But Poland did write itself a referential benchmark which it will use down the road in a future review of the system. Fund performance to 2016 will be marked against a benchmark of at most 90% WIG plus at least 10% 3M WIBOR plus 100 bps.

Pension funds have not been indexbased to date, in part on liquidity issues and in part on peer-related benchmarking.

Source: PAP

Nordea PTE pension fund CEO Krolikowski on proposed changes in OFE system Pension funds might be forced to hold very high equity exposures, well over the 75% floor, as Polish markets lack instruments for funds to invest in once ban on investment in Treasuries is introduced, Nordea PTE pension fund manager CEO Piotr Krolikowski told PAP. Nordea PTE CEO Piotr Krolikowski: The solution which assumes that at least 75% of pension fund assets must be invested in shares is a radical solution. It would be hard to find a country where the floor would be set that high and where pension funds would be forced to invest such a large portion of assets into shares.

One should expect that during works in parliament the limits would be changed, the more so that the legislator repeatedly suggested that changes in OFE are supposed to serve the security of future pensioners and the proposals in their

current form do not do that. We recommended other solutions. We postulated keeping the possibility of investing in government bonds, as it is a necessary condition for maintaining the stability of a portfolio. We assumed that for instance 20% of assets could be invested in T-bonds and additionally mortgage bonds, for example. In our opinion shares should account to no more than 40-60% of assets.

If we wanted to keep portfolio roughly stable, then we would have to invest that 25% in instruments other than bonds, but there are hardly any such instrument in Poland, save for corporate bonds. We are still working for the launch of infrastructural programs, such as those with PIR. There is not much going on here beyond declarations. It may turn out that, taking into account OFE assets size, we will have PLN 20 bln in means we will not be able to invest outside of the equity markets, which will mean that OFE will initially be forced to invest in shares and only further down the road, once other investment instruments are created and mature, we will be gradually selling them.

Also the new benchmark suggests that the legislator wants us to invest in shares.

Its structure, with strong overweight for WIG Index forces us into a high equity exposure. Whether pension funds remain the demand side or become the supply side after changes to OFE will depend on the number of persons leaving OFE and on new inflows. We still don`t know that.

November 2013

www.bizpoland.pl

Equities News

Poland will leave 75% equity floor in force indefinitely - Ministry of Finance Poland will leave pension funds with a 75% floor for equity investments indefinitely, deputy Finance Minister Izabela Leszczyna told PAP of legislation published. The 75% floor for equity assets will also be in force beyond July 1, 2014, Leszczyna said. Much of the early media reports and market commentary appeared to focus on an apparent misreading of the government documents suggesting that the 75% threshold is lifted from July 1, 2014.

That confusion appeared to reflect uncertainties within the government itself. Labor Minister Wladislaw KosiniakKamysz, speaking in an interview for broadcaster TVN CNBC, first said the 75% equity floor will be lifted, and then, upon word of the Leszczyna comments, said only we`ll have to clear this up. The justification to the bill had stated side by side first that there is a 75% floor and immediately thereafter that all investment limits will be lifted as of July 1, 2014. The actual bill, in turn, showed the 75% equity floor in a separate article from both the lifting of the current limitations and the introduction of new limits for the transitional period to July 1.

Meridian Properties cancels IPO Dutch real estate investment trust firm Meridian Properties cancelled its IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange due to adverse market conditions, the firm said in a press statement. “Meridian Properties N.V. informs that due to adverse market conditions it has decided to cancel the Offering and the plans to debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange”, Meridian wrote in a press statement. Meridian Properties planned to issue 18 mln shares during October 1-8, expecting some EUR 170 mln in gross receipts from the offering. The debut was slated for around October 24.

Electricity consumption up by 2.84% y/y in September Electricity consumption rose by 2.84% y/y to 12,591 GWh in September, while production in the period edged up by 6.49% y/y to 13,151 GWh, data from national grid operator PSE show. In the YTD, electricity consumption measured 116,517 GWh, up 0.43% y/y, while production increased by 1.44% y/y to 119,738 GWh.

Airline PLL LOT holds off need for state aid Polish airline PLL LOT has put off the need for a capital injection from the state

2013 November

Izabela Leszczyna, Deputy Finance Minister

thanks to its ongoing restructuring effort, deputy Treasury Minister Rafal Baniak told PAP. “In connection with the financial situation improvement of the carrier the need to apply for capitalization has been put off”, Baniak said. “LOT is conducting a restructuring process whose effect has been postponement of the necessity of granting state aid. LOT is beating expectations in terms of financial results”, Baniak stressed. “Financial results of the company are better than expected, although still in the negative territory”. he said. A potential decision on application for state aid, depending on the current financial liquidity, may be taken at the next EGM, which will most likely take place in November, the official also said. LOT has already refrained from applying for additional state aid in September on the back of improving financial results.

Source: PAP

Asseco signs PLN 596 mln deal with social security system Listed IT group Asseco Poland signed a PLN 595.8 mln deal on maintaining core KSI IT system for social security ZUS, ZUS spokesperson Jacek Dziekan told PAP. “Today a deal was signed with Asseco on KSI maintenance”. Dziekan said. Asseco was the only bidder in the tender. The deal was supposed to be signed for four years.

Poland`s banking system outlook changed to stable from negative - Moody`s Poland`s banking system outlook was upgraded to stable from negative, which reflects expectation of an economic recovery and stabilization in bank profitability, Moody`s Investors Service said in a report.

Statement by Moody`s: The outlook for Poland`s banking system has been changed to stable from negative, says Moody`s Investors Service in a new report published today. The outlook change principally reflects Moody`s expectation of a recovery in economic growth and consequent stabilisation in bank profitability. The stable outlook also reflects the banks` improved capitalisation, increased risk-absorption capacity and largely self-sufficient funding profiles, which make the system resilient to the persistently challenging conditions in international wholesale markets.

The new report, entitled Banking System Outlook: Poland, is now available on www.moodys.com. Moody`s expectation of economic recovery during the 12-18 month outlook period is the main driver behind the stabilisation of the banking system outlook. The rating agency believes this recovery in growth will translate into a stable operating condition for banks, with improved demand for credit and other banking products, both of which will support core profitability.

After relatively weak GDP growth during 2013, which Moody`s estimates will not exceed 1.4%, stronger growth of around 2.5% is likely in 2014. Consequently, Moody`s expects a recovery in interest income, Polish banks main revenue source. In the recovering economic environment, Polish banks are better able to gradually re-price their liabilities and improve NIMs, towards levels comparable to other regional peers. In the first half of 2013 the Polish system has further improved its leverage and capital adequacy ratios, prompted by the Polish Banking Supervisor (KNF)`s recommendations on profit retention. Moody`s believes

21

www.bizpoland.pl

Equities News that during the outlook horizon, Polish banks` capital resources will remain solid, mainly driven by internal capital creation, with an aggregate capital adequacy ratio expected to rise 1 to 2 percentage points above the ratio of 14.7% registered as at end-2012.

The system`s resiliency is also boosted by granular funding sources featuring a domestic deposit customer base with limited reliance on wholesale markets. Corporate and retail deposits continue to account for a significant portion of total funding with a number of foreign-owned banks relying on medium-term FX loans from their parents.

While Moody`s expects that parental funding will be scaled-down, this process is likely to be gradual, similar to the trends seen in the past two years. However, we expect that the current negative pressures on asset quality will continue, at least during the initial period of the outlook horizon, with the non-performing asset quality ratio moving up slightly and nearing the 10% mark on a system-wide basis.

TPSA name to disappear, will merge with Orange and assume new name Telco TPSA will have its shareholders approve a merger with its wholy-owned units Orange Polska and PTK Centertel as well as changing the company name to Orange Polska at the EGM slated for November 7, 2013, draft resolutions showed.

Poland should sell shares by end-Q1 to allow PIR to finance Lotos deal

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Poland will have to sell shares in listed firms by end-Q1 2014 in order to allow the newly-created investment support vehicle PIR to enter a deal with Lotos Petrobaltic in Q1, PIR CEO Mariusz Grendowicz told reporters. “The investment policy assumes that at the moment of signing an investment deal we should have funds secured,Grendowicz said. We assume the deal will be signed in Q1. Our schedule need not necessarily fully match the schedule of share sale by the TreasMin; it means the Treasury should sell stakes to raise money for investments from now to endQ1 2014”, Grendowicz added.

At issue is a deal between Lotos fuel firm unit Petrobaltic and Poland`s investment SPV PIR for financing works on Petrobaltic`s B8 oil field on the Baltic Sea, with PIR engagement not to exceed PLN 563 mln. For the purpose of the project, the companies will set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), to which Lotos Petrobaltic will contribute the extraction license and assets tied to the field. The agreement constitutes the first deal signed by PIR, a vehicle set up in 2012 in order to boost investments in Poland.

Further deals are in the pipeline, Grendowicz suggested, with possibly 1-2 ready to be presented by the end of the year. “Those will be smaller deals than the current Petrobaltic one, of the PLN 100200 mln each”, Grendowicz said later in an interview for TVN CNBC. The SPV Polskie Inwestycje Rozwojowe (PIR) was created on December 31, 2012 as a part of Poland`s plan to bolster investment spending in the economy, especially in 2013 and 2014, as presented by PM Donald Tusk in his second inaugural speech last year.

According to the plan, the state will hand assets, including stakes in listed firms, to state bank BGK, which can leverage the fresh capital to support key investments, and to Polskie Inwestycje Rozwojowe. BGK and the SPV were expected to achieve a planned PLN 40 bln in financing capacity.

GTC sells 50% stake in Krakow shopping mall for EUR 90 mln Real estate developer GTC signed a preliminary deal on the sale of 50% stake in Galeria Kazimierz shopping mall in Krakow at EUR 90 mln or some PLN 378.9 mln, the company said in a market filing. “By concluding negotiations to sell the asset, GTC and

its partner Avestus will dispose of 100% of Galeria Kazimierz”, the developer said in a press statement that followed market filing. Upon fulfillment of standard conditions precedent and signing the final sale deed, the transaction will generate approximately 50 million euro of net cash for GTC. GTC’s decision to sell its stake in Galeria Kazimierz is in line with the Company strategy to sell mature assets, as well as in accordance with the Company`s plan to generate net cash from disposal of assets, as announced last year, the statement read. The transaction price of 180 million euro for the 100% stake in Galeria Kazimierz reflects the demand for such prime asset.

PEP gets financing to roll out more wind farms Renewable energy producer Polish Energy Partners (PEP) signed an up to PLN 242.7 mln credit agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to finance construction of wind farms in Gawlowice and Rajgrod, PEP said in a market filing. Additionally, the agreement provides for an up to PLN 49.3 mln partial financing of the Skurpie wind farm, the filing reads. n

Summary of residential real estate developers Q3 apartment sales Following is a table of Q3 2013 net apartment sales by WSE-listed real estate developers.

Budimex Nieruchomości Dom Development Inpro JW Construction * Marvipol Polnord Robyg Ronson

Q3 2013

Q1-3 2013

Q3 2012

Q1-3 2012

214 414 106 275 203 283 476 123

494 1139 258 669 411 693 1181 418

112 361 108 200 116 210 264 93

322 1102 286 547 292 653 816 261

* gross sales (without taking into account resignations)

November 2013

www.bizpoland.pl

Food Exports

Norfolk’s food firms look to strike deals in Poland Rackheath-based packaging machine manufacturer Redpack is eyeing expansion into Poland to exploit the potential of its growing food sector.

The firm said a need to improve packaging and product presentation in some of the country’s major supermarkets could spark a growth opportunity for the business.

It comes after a group of six businesses looked to cash-in on new export deals during a recent trade mission to Warsaw.

The trip – attended by Redpack, Freshpod, Enviro-pod, KMS, Brittania Training and Electrical Installation Solutions – began with businesses attending a reception at the British Embassy in the capital, followed by an afternoon session where Polish retailers, growers and processors learnt more about the Norfolk companies.

It comes as UK Trade and Investment gets set to launch its export week at the beginning of November by holding a series of events highlighting the potential of trading with high-growth markets abroad.

Peter Smith, commercial manager of Redpack Packaging Machinery, said: “Our

visit indicated that here is great potential in pursuing business in Poland, of specific interest to Redpack is the significant improvements that are likely to take place in the packaging and presentation of product by major supermarkets.

“These changes will be necessary to meet the growing demand and expectations of young professionals and consumers.

“In addition, supermarkets will drive change as they look to improve in-store hygiene, staff handling, product storage, product wastage, on shelf displays and promotion of their brand. I believe that there is a market for Redpack Packaging machinery but it will demand investment,

continued activity and customer visits.

It may take many months to produce the desired results but there is undoubtedly business to be obtained by a proactive approach.”

Meanwhile, Mike Brown, of Fresh Pod. who helped organise the trade mission, said food companies in Poland were looking for better ways to manage their food storage.

He said: “Poland is the third biggest apple growing nation in the world and a preliminary meeting with some Polish growers at Fruit Logistica in February suggested that Poland would be a good place to expand into.

“Having met with several growers at the embassy it was clear that they are looking for technology to help them manage their storage and logistics better. The Polish growers were knowledgeable, receptive and keen to implement new technology into their businesses.

“I am currently in follow up talks with both growers and producer organisations which I hope will result in new export business for us.” n

1 9 l i sto p a d a 2 0 1 3 , Wa rszawa

Perspektywy rozwoju eksportu POLISH FOOD EXPORT FORUM będzie stanowić idealną okazję do poszerzenia informacji na temat możliwości inwestycyjnych w Chinach i innych perspektywicznych krajach oraz przybliżenia szans i ewentualnych zagrożeń dla branży spożywczej wynikających z wejścia na nowy rynek zbytu. Uczestnicy będą mieli także możliwość zapoznania się z doświadczeniami polskich przedsiębiorstw, którym udało się zaistnieć w Chinach.

POLISH FOOD EXPORT FORUM jest kontynuacją idei spotkań biznesowych dla sektora spożywczego, które są płaszczyzną wielu debat i dyskusji skupiających przedstawicieli największych eksporterów, kadrę kierowniczą, reprezentantów instytucji, agencji proeksportowych, otoczenia biznesu oraz władz rządowych.

Forum odbędzie się

19 listopada 2013 r.

W Pałacu Prymasowskim, ul. Senatorska 13/15 w Warszawie Rejestracja uczestników prowadzona jest pod adresem: www.foodforum.pl W razie pytań, prosimy o kontakt: agnieszka.mezynska@openlinks.pl Udział w forum jest bezpłatny dla: reprezentantów branży spożywczej, rządowych agencji właściwych dla działań proeksportowych oraz branżowych stowarzyszeń i izb.

www.foodforum.pl Organizator:

Partner organizacyjny:

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2013 November

www.bizpoland.pl

Food Exports

Anuga report: Germans proclaim Poland’s good products, but poor marketing The largest international food fair in the world “ Anuga “ in Cologne presented this year 165 companies from Poland.

Promotion of Polish food specialties were held under the slogans “Polish taste”, “Quality, taste, tradition” and “know good food “ and was aimed at increasing the awareness among consumers in Germany. However, it is a daunting task.

The German agri-food market is valued at about 170 billion euros. Entry to the commercial networks is not easy. Many Polish producers already have made it, but most Polish food products are sold under a different brand name.

Multi-billion dollar turnover

24

The value of exports of agri-food products from Poland to Germany in 2012 amounted to EUR 3.9 billion: 16 percent are processed and preserved fish, mainly salmon, 8 percent grains, 7 percent poultry meat and milk and mushrooms, and about 6 percent preparations of flour.

The German market also buys Polish fruit juices (especially apple), confectioneries, frozen fruit (especially strawberries and raspberries), milk powder, etc. The German market for geese is dominated by Poland, which sells 95 percent of the geese comsumed in Germany.

The German market for meat products is quite hermetic. For example, in 2001 a newly-imposed trade certificate for fresh meat and meat products made it difficult for Polish entrepreneurs to accesst the market. The President of the Union of Producers and Employers of Meat Industry Wieslaw Rozanski hopes that this will soon change.

value amounted to EUR 2.8 billion ( 22.6% of the agri -food imports in total) .

The hardest part for Polish producers is to secure German importers and distributors of food, as well as build a brandname among major retail chains. However, many of them have already done it, but most of Polish agri-food products are sold in Germany under other brands.

Germany also exports

Poor marketing

On the other hand, Germany exports to Poland some pork and live piglets, but especially coffees, chocolates, pet food, pastries, cakes, syrups, cheese, and palm oil.

Agricultural products exported in 2012 to Poland came mainly from Germany. Their

Dr. Henriette Ullmann, a journalist who writes about Polish food in German journals, sees growing interest of young Germans for Polish food, with only one problem. “Poland is so far doing very little in the field of marketing. That is why

many people do not know Polish products in Germany”, Ullmann says. Ullmann encourages the organization of Polish food tasting. This is the easiest way to reach consumers.

The German market opens up In addition to the presence at the trade fair, independent companies develop contacts with German food distributors directly. Director Arkadiusz Jarosz notes that the German market is now less hermetic than ever . “Because we manufacture for many retail chains in Poland, it is observed also in Germany”, he said. One strategy for entering the German market is promotion in the press, on the Internet

November 2013

www.bizpoland.pl

Food Exports A taste of Poland comes to Israel

, as well as actively seeking contacts with the German distributors. Dega sells its products in the Edeka network and is entering the network of Norma, Aldi Nord and Netto. There is also growing demand for Polish products on the German market from the growing number of Poles and people from Eastern Europe who come to Germany.

Magdalena Popławska, in meat firm Pekpol of Ostroleka, cares for export especially for the German market. She conducts market research, talks with clients, and tracks market trends. Her main “advisor” is the Internet. It helps that speaks German. “In this market, there is great potential, we know the needs of the market.

2013 November

It’s not only the price but also the quality”, she says. Her products are sold under their own brandname already.

Promising market In the first half of 2013 the growth of Polish exports to Germany increased by 20.5 percent. According to the head of the Department of Trade and Investment Promotion of Consulate General in Cologne Stanislaw Hebda, it means that exports of agri -food products to Germany seriously increase. Hebda says that Germany is promising for Polish food producers and exports to Germany will grow.

Source: DW.de

Israel’s first ever Polish Culinary Week will include a plethora of cultural events around the country celebrating Polish cuisine. The nine-day long celebration, which started 2 November and runs through 11 November, features more than 40 cultural and culinary events that will bring both Polish and Israeli traditional and modern recipes together.

The event, started by The Polish Institute in Israel, will take place nationwide. Guests will have the opportunity to take part in a wide range of activities, including cooking workshops, tours and tastings, poetry readings, photography exhibitions and more in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Polish Culinary Week is the artistic brainchild of Arieh Rosen, director of cultural programming at The Polish Institute and food writer Ronit Vered. Festival organizers hope Israelis will rethink their perceptions of Polish food through exposure to both old and new Polish cookery.

While the premise of the festival is to help reinvent the idea of “Polish cooking,” it will also focus on the impact that Polish food has had on Israeli cuisine.

Many Polish Jews migrated to Israel, and the event is a prime opportunity for both Israeli and Polish chefs to interact and share their recipes.

Polish and Israeli cultures will blend together in Haifa on November 2, when pub owner Yoske Pincus shares his kitchen at Ha’Ogen (The Anchor) with top Polish chef Artur Moroz. Pincus, a Dachau concentration camp survivor, was born in southern Poland and bought his restaurant back in the 1960s. Although he is in his mid-80s, Pincus prepares beer and dishes ranging from goulash to pork chops on a daily basis. Moroz owns a restaurant called Bulaj, and is a proponent of raw ingredients. Together, the two will cook their own versions of gefilte fish and casseroles in what will be a blend of both Eastern European and Israeli cooking styles.

If you’re looking to learn a bit more about both Polish and Jewish-Polish dishes, head to the “ABC of the Polish Cuisine” event on November 6 in Tel Aviv. Actors, poets, chefs and other art aficionados and academics will present on Polish cooking ideas, one by one, using a specific letter from the alphabet.

The festival will also offer a multitude of different cultural events including a special Polish poetry reading session in Tel Aviv, a photography exhibition of various dishes and a special night of wine and drinking at a café in Jerusalem.

Source: Jerusalem Post

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FDI News

Kerry talks trade and defence on Poland visit US Secretary of State John Kerry was in Poland from 4-5 November for talks on growing trade ties, as well as plans to base an American missile defence system here in 2018.

His visit also comes against a background of European anger over the revelations of the extent of the US spying programme, which have triggered a rift in trans-Atlantic ties.

Kerry acknowledged last week for the first time that in some cases US spying has gone too far.

“I assure you, innocent people are not being abused in this process, but there’s an effort to try to gather information,” Kerry told a London conference via video link.

“And yes, in some cases, it has reached too far inappropriately.”

The top US diplomat flew in from Saudi Arabia, and went straight to a wreath laying in memory of Tadeusz Mazowiecki, the first non-Communist premier in Sovietdominated eastern Europe, who died a week ago aged 86.

A US missile defence plan for Europe — to counter a potential Iran threat — envisages deploying dozens of SM-3 interceptors in Romania and Poland between now and 2018.

“Poland is an important part of the European Phased Adaptive Approach to the Nato missile defence, and we will deploy a missile defence site in Poland in the 2018 time frame,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said last week.

She also stressed that “Poland is the largest commercial partner of the United

States in Central Europe, and the United States is one of the top sources of foreign investment in Poland. So that’s an incredibly important economic relationship.”

Psaki said bilateral trade has quadrupled in the past 10 years, and US exports to Poland “grew over 37 per cent just in the first seven months of 2013.”

American businesses have also invested some $20 billion in Poland and employ directly some 180,000 staff.

Kerry, who was on an 11-day tour mostly through the Middle East and North Africa, also met with Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, and had a small lunch meeting with the American Chamber of Commerce at the Hotel Bristol.

He also visited the Polish Air Force base in Lask, near to Lodz, to meet US and Polish pilots who have been doing joint training since November 2012.

“It represents the first - ever continuous presence of US troops in Poland,” Psaki said. n

Kleven considering investment in Polish shipyard Norwegian shipbuilder Kleven is planning to invest in Poland’s bankrupt Nowa Shipyard in Szczecin.

26

Regional authorities of Western Pomerania, MPs from the region where the investment is to be located, and Mariusz Kolwas, chief executive of stateowned investment fund Silesia which owns the shipyard, discussed the project with the Polish Ministry of Treasury, reported public radio broadcaster Radio Szczecin.

Mr Kolwas told local news site gs24.pl that there were ongoing talks with potential investors interested in the Szczecinbased shipyard. The chief executive said that the shipyard site has a total space of some 500,000m³, but not all of it would be sold to the investor.

“There are 26 companies operating on a portion of the shipyard site, they are managing quite well,” Mr Kolwas said.

The Szczecin-based shipyard was declared bankrupt in December 2011. Ten years earlier, it had been acquired by the Polish Treasury.

Kleven says it posted its strongest annual

financial results to date in 2012. Last year, the company’s two Norway-based shipyards built seven new vessels for an aggregate contract value of about US$ 465 million, according to data released by Kleven. n

November 2013

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FDI News

Tokai Rubber Industries launches Polish plant Tokai Rubber Industries Ltd. has opened a plant in Zagorz that will supply rubber and polyurethane components to automotive manufacturers.

The site at the Mielec Special Economic Zone in southeastern Poland employs 100, but that number eventually will double, according to the MSEZ. The facility occupies about 55,700 square feet of production space and will make anti-vibration and sound proof components. The company’s clients include Toyota, Honda and Suzuki, the economic zone said. The investment in Zagorz is estimated to be about $11 million, according to figures released by the state-run Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency. “The launch of the factory in Zagorz ... is another step of the company’s expansion to the European market,” the agency said.

Tokai’s Polish investment was carried out by local subsidiary TRI Polska. The Zagorz-based facility is the Japanese firm’s second plant in Poland. In 2000,

Tokai launched production in Wolbrom, in the Malopolskie region, where the company also is producing various car parts. n

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27

2013 November

www.bizpoland.pl

FDI News Mars Poland to invest in pet food plant Mars Poland will invest more than 250 million zł for the development of their animal feed factory in Kożuszki Parcel, and for the establishment of a new chocolate factory in Janaszówek.

One of the leading FMCG companies in Poland, Mars Poland has invested approximately 800 million zł in the factory and office complex near Sochaczew. With the additional 250 million in the expansion of factories in Janaszówek and Kożuszki Parcel, it will mean total investment in Poland will exceed 1 billion zł.

The decision to expand the animal feed mill was made in order to meet growing demand for prepared animal feeds in Poland and abroad. The increase in the pet feed market is associated with an increase in awareness of pet owners, who are increasingly recognizing that prepared food is wholesome and can help guarantee animal health and well-being.

General Director of Mars Poland Petcare, Aku Vikström, said “we still see great potential for both short-and longterm growth in this market, which will make it become one of the largest FMCG categories in Poland.”

Mars Poland built their first factory in 1992, building a dry pet food production plant in Kożuszki Parcel near Sochaczew, producing a dry pet food. In 1995, a wet pet feed production line was established at the Kożuszki Parcel site.

Mars Poland sells pet food in Poland and Europe in a number of brands including Pedigree, Whiskas, Kitecat, and Cesar.

and Polish Undersecretary of State Beata Stelmach. The agreement cover sectors including mining and mineral exploration, carbon enrichment, oil and gas, construction, transport and infrastructure.

Davies said a joint economic commission would be set up within the ambit of the agreement “to explore areas of economic cooperation which provide and promote maximum opportunities in trade and investment development”.

Africa and Poland has grown steadily over the last six years, the current trade volumes do not reflect the true potential and goodwill that exist between the two countries.

There were still significant trade and investment opportunities which South Africa and Polish businesses could exploit, he added. “We believe maritime is one of the sectors that present a potential for greater economic co-operation. There are opportunities for joint investment, technical co-operation and institutional partnerships especially in shipping, ports and logistics, marine manufacturing and ship repairs.”

Motlanthe also opportunities also existed in mining, machinery building, metallurgy, science and technology and food processing. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told the forum that South Africa was Poland’s biggest trading partner in Africa and that the two countries had a lot in common, including a rich history, a love for democracy and a commitment to human rights.

Also, memorandums of understanding were signed between Trade and Investment South Africa and the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, and between the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa and the Industrial Development Agency of Poland.

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, addressing a Poland-South Africa business forum in Johannesburg, said he hoped the joint commission would provide Polish and South African business leaders with enabling conditions to improve trade between the two countries. According to Motlanthe, while trade between South

Egypt and Poland seek bilateral investments The trade volume between Egypt and Poland increased by 8.6 percent during the last six months, Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry Fakhri Abdul Nour said in a recent meeting with Piotr Puchta, the Polish Ambassador to Cairo.

South Africa, Poland sign cooperation agreement

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South Africa and Poland signed an economic cooperation agreement aimed at increasing two-way trade and investment during Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s visit to the country in late October.

The agreement was signed in Pretoria by Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies

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FDI News

Inter-trade between any two countries requires exchanging experience in industry, establishing bilateral projects as well as boosting the tourism sector, Abdul Nour said during the meeting. Tourism represents 11.3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in Egypt. Abdul Nour noted that Egypt and Poland can establish bilateral tourism projects that can transform Egypt as a tourist hub.

Egypt was considered an important hub by Europe, African countries and the Middle East, Ambassador Puchta said.

Puchta invited Egyptian businessmen to attend a national conference in Poland in a bid to discuss further investment cooperation.

Amazon starts Poland warehouses, leasing three 95,000 sm centres

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Global internet retailer Amazon is to start European distribution from Poland, leasing three logistics facilities near Wroclaw and Poznan mainly to supply German customers, each with a footprint of 95,000 sm GLA. In a combined news conference with the Polish foreign investment agency Amazon announced plans to open two new fulfilment centres by August 2014, and another in mid-2015. “These centres will ensure Amazon continues to keep its promise of prompt and reliable delivery to European customers,” it said. On top of 2,000 longterm jobs created at each centre, it expects an additional 3,000 seasonal jobs to cover peak times during the holiday season.

The warehouses will be integrated into Amazon’s European fulfilment network and begin serving mainly the Amazon.de website, over time serving customers from all the US-based group’s European retail websites. The centre located near Wrocław will be leased from Goodman while the second, close to Poznań, will be leased from Panattoni Europe. The third, to open in 2015 also near Wrocław, will be leased

from Panattoni too. Poland’s central location in Europe and close connection to key markets were key reasons behind this decision, Amazon said. The new centres will support Amazon’s growth in Europe, and there are no plans to close any existing EU fulfilment centres, the firm added.

“We are thrilled to officially welcome Amazon to Poland,” said Poland’s Minister of Economy Janusz Piechociński. “The establishment of three large fulfilment centres and the creation of thousands of jobs is a milestone for our further economic growth.” Amazon Director European Operations Tim Collins added: “We are excited to increase our presence in Europe .. and to be creating thousands of fulltime positions”, said Tim Collins, Amazon Director European Operations.

Haier and Fagor to launch new Polish plant China’s home appliances manufacturer Haier is planning to set up a new plant in Wrocław. Haier will develop the investment in a joint venture with Spain‘s Fagor Group which is to have a 49% stake in the subsidiary. The factory will produce refrigerators with the use of plastics.

Under the plan, the companies will invest about €56m and create 500 jobs in

Wrocław, reported local daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. A further 200 workers are to be hired over the next five years.

Haier and Fagor initially aim to produce about 500,000 refrigerators per year at the facility. By 2019, the plant’s annual output will be increased to 1m units.

The factory will have a production space of 35,000m², and it is expected to be launched in June 2014.

The companies’ investment in Poland is related to the rapid development of the local appliance industry. In 2012, Polandbased production facilities made 4.95m washing machines, up 23% over a year earlier, as well as 3.1m dishwashers, an increase of 5%, and 2.21 million refrigerators and freezers, up 7%, according to data from the country’s Central Statistical Office (GUS). About 85% of the output was intended for export.

Set up in 1984, Haier is based in Quingdao, China. The company operates 24 factories worldwide. Established in 1956, Fagor is headquartered in Mondragón, Spain. The group has 16 plants in Spain, France, Italy, Poland, Morocco and China.

Takeda Pharma strengthens its position in Poland Japanese pharmaceutical company Takeda Pharma plans to increase its production in Poland by half, thanks to the development of a new factory. Takeda’s plant expansion will strengthen the company’s position in Poland. It will help the firm maintain competitiveness in a rapidly changing healthcare market.

With the expansion of the factory, employment will be increased by almost a third. The modern pharmaceutical plant in Lyszkowice is a showcase of Takeda in Poland. It produces medicines and food supplements for the Polish market and for export. Expansion of the plant will be completed in 2014.

CEE Outsourcing and Shared Services Awards Gala 6 February, 2014, Warsaw (Hotel Intercontinental)

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FDI News Singapore Business Federation During the Poland-Singapore Business Forum(30 October), in the presence of prime minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong and Poland’s deputy prime minister Janusz Piechocinski, representatives of companies from both countries discussed business cooperation. The event was organised by PAIiIZ in cooperation with the Singapore Business Federation.

While opening the forum, PAIZ president Slawomir Majman emphasised the importance of Singapore as the world’s most competitive economy. The event was attended by companies from the automotive, energy, construction, tourism, oil and gas, logistics, and health care sectors as well as representatives of Polish local authorities. Guests were also shown the potential of strategic sectors such as renewable energy, automotive, ICT and R&D. The Poland-Singapore Business Forum took place at Warsaw’s Hyatt hotel, on the occasion of the official visit of prime minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong to Poland.

Philips leads expansion of WarmiaMazury Special Economic Zone

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Due to extending the area of WarmiaMazury Special Economic Zone in Kostrzyn a new investment worth PLN 50 million will be built. As a result at least 2000 new employees will be able to work there in the future. Extension of the Zone means that Philips Lighting Poland SA will modernise its factory that produces energy-efficient lighting and LED-based flashes. The investor also plans to provide R&D, IT and BPO services. The company

will spend PLN 50 million for modernization. Moreover, Philips plans to hire 70 new employees soon.

New Partnership with Hubei The Hubei-Poland Economy and Trade Cooperation Promotion Forum is a further step in strengthening business cooperation between Poland and China.

The Hubei Poland Economy and Trade Cooperation Promotion Forum coincided with the visit of a delegation from Hubei Province to Poland, led by the Communist Party Chief of Hubei, Li Hongzhong. The visit’s aim was to establish direct cooperation between Polish and Chinese companies. Representatives of the Chinese province of Hubei were encouraged to invest in Poland, especially in the electronics, renewable energy, IT and communication sectors. “Poles are the Chinese of Europe; thanks to the energy of Polish entrepreneurs, the country coped with the economic crisis”, said PAIZ president Slawomir Majman. After the official part of the ceremony, a cooperation agreement between PAIZ and Hubei province’s Department of Commerce was signed.

A Chinese company, Tri-Ring, signed a memorandum of understanding with two Polish companies Fabryka Tocznych w Krasniku, which manufacturers ballbearings, and Impexmetal, which operates in the nonferrous metals sector. The forum was organised on 29 October at the Hyatt hotel in Warsaw.

in Istanbul, during the CeBIT fair, the Agency organised a seminar about the opportunities of developing cooperation in ICT sector. The meeting was part of the Promotion of Polish economy in Turkey programme. The conference was arranged for Turkish entrepreneurs interested in the possibility of cooperating with Polish companies and to strengthen relations between the two countries. During the CeBIT fair, at the Polish trade stand, companies form the Eastern Poland looked for new business partners and potential distributors. The stand was funded by the Eastern Poland Economic Promotion Programme.

Turkish Prime Minister at PolandTurkey Forum in Warsaw

PAIZ, the Ministry of Economy and the Polish Chamber of Commerce (KIG) are hosting the Poland-Turkey Business Forum. The meeting will be held on Friday 8 November at the Hyatt hotel.

The forum is being held on the occasion of the official visit of Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Poland. The event will be attended by Turkish entrepreneurs representing the construction, energy, textile, logistics, food and jewellery sectors.

Pacific Alliance

Playing gold in a former mine

“Alliance Pacific - Opportunities for Development” is the title of a conference on investment and business opportunities in the Latin American Pacific region. The organisers, the embassies of Chile, Mexico, Colombia, and Peru, will hold the event on Thursday 7 November at PAIZ.

The first golf course in a post-industrial area was opened in early October in Bytom.

The biggest commercial revitalization project in the country covers nearly 100 ha of land. The project consists of a fullsize-18-hole golf course, residential development, club house, “senior residence” and commercial buildings. Currently, in Bytom’s post-mine area one can practice golf using nine-hole course, driving range, putting and chipping area. Moreover, at

Closer cooperation with Turkey PAIZ continues to work towards closer cooperation with Turkey. On 25 October

November 2013

www.bizpoland.pl the revitalized areas around the field the first phase of single-family housing and commercial buildings was built.

Building ties with Japan

FDI News development of Pomerania. The cluster will be a cooperation platform for wood processing industry, furniture manufacturers, science institutions and local R&D sector.

China Association for International Contact PAIZ continues to strengthen its relations with China. On 14 October, the Agency hosted a visit to Poland by the China Association for International Friendly Contact. The participants of the meeting at PAIZ exchanged views on the current political situation in Poland, the condition of Polish economy and local labour market. PAIZ president Slawomir Majman emphasised the growing interest of Polish entrepreneurs in cooperating with China. CAIFC is an organisation created to support personal exchanges and to promote international and regional contacts.

PAIZ signed a cooperation agreement with Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) on 25 October in Japan.

Strengthening economic cooperation between the two countries, as well as meeting with the representatives of Lotte, NGK, Sumitomo Chemical - the largest Japanese investors in Poland - were the main highlights of the official visit to Japan. Mr Slawomir Majman met with Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of the Keidanren, the main Japanese business federation, and visited Mizuho Bank. The two sides agreed to strengthen their efforts to encourage more Japanese investment in Poland. Japan is the biggest Asian investor in Poland. Currently PAIZ is supporting nine Japanese inward investment projects with a total value of Euro 63m.

These have the potential to create at least 1,000 new jobs.

In related news, Toyota Motor Manufacturing took first place in the category “Top Asian Investor of the Year” at the annual FDI Poland Investor Awards.

Szczinek furniture cluster in Slupsk SEZ On 20 September Kronospan Szczecinek Sp. z oo, the City of Szczecinek, District of Szczecinek and the Pomeranian Regional Development Agency from Slupsk signed a letter of intent to create a furniture cluster.

Szczecinek Furniture Cluster has been formed in the “Szczecinek” Subzone that belongs to Slupsk Special Economic Zone. The cluster is supposed to help to improve the economy of the city and the entire region, as well as to strengthen the

2013 November

Kazakhstan interested in Poland On 14 October, a governmental delegation from Kazakhstan led by Ambassador Eric Utembayev arrived to Poland. Foreign visitors met with representatives of PAIZ to learn about the investment opportunities offered by the country. Welcoming the delegation, PAIZ president Slawomir Majman explained how the Polish economy has continued to achieve success despite the economic crisis. Director Iwona Chojnowska-Haponik and the representatives of the agency’s Foreign Investment Department presented to the audience the mechanisms of obtaining foreign investment and providing investor services.

The system of investment incentives in Poland was also discussed during the meeting.

“Made in Poland” The key messages from the new Polish governmental campaign promoting Polish brand, launched recently, is that Polish products are attractive and can successfully compete in the international market, having been created with “passion, innovation, discipline, quality and competence”. Polish brands are entering foreign markets more confidently, according to the organizers. The “Made in Poland” label is becoming increasingly associated with quality. During the campaign launch, which took place on 14 October at the Ministry of Economy, deputy prime minister Janusz Piechocinski stressed that Poland bases the country’s success on Polish managers, engineers, researchers and various professionals. PAIZ deputy

president Monika Piatkowska added that Polish brands, present in the global market, are strengthening Poland’s national brand. The aim of the “Made in Poland” programme is to strengthen the image of Poland as a reliable partner among foreign businesses. The campaign will also show Poland’s attractive export offer provided

by Polish companies that are able to cooperate successfully with foreign business.

Poland scouts Zambian and South African market Prime Minister Donald Tusk, together with PAIZ’s delegation as well as members of Polish government and businessmen, paid a visit to South Africa and Zambia in October. Mr Tusk tooks part in business forums in Johannesburg and Lusaka. This is the second visit of Polish prime minister and PAIiIZ to Africa this year. During the visit, an intergovernmental agreement on economic cooperation between Poland and South Africa was signed.

The agreement aims to establish a Joint Economic Commission. A Memorandum of Cooperation between PAIiIZ and TISA -South Africa’s investment agency -was signed. A similar memorandum is to be signed with Zambia Development Agency.

Economic expansion into African markets is a strategic approach of the Polish government. The Ministry of Economy provides “Go Africa” programme to support the development of economic relations and the promotion of exports of Polish products to Africa.

The official visit of the Polish delegation to Africa finished with a business forum in Lusaka in Zambia. During the forum, a Polish construction company Izodom 2000 Poland signed a cooperation agreement with Zambian partners. Twenty new homes in Lusaka will be built as a result of the agreement. The value of this pilot project is $500,000. After the official part of the event, a B2B session for Polish and Zambian business was held. The forum was attended by 180 guests.

New Chapter in Chile-Poland relations PAIZ and ProChile signed a Memorandum of Understanding during a seminar on investment opportunities in Poland and Chile. A memorandum was signed to strengthen mutual promotion and trade cooperation between the two countries.

The largest Polish investment in Chile and at the same time the largest Polish foreign investment of the last 20 years is KGHM’s Sierra Gorda mine construction. The estimated value of the project is $3 billion.

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FDI News BorgWarner expands its business in Rzeszow

Grohman factory development wins major award The Grohman Factory - the headquarters of the Lodz Special Economic Zone- that was recently revitalised has won the John Jacob Astor Award. This international contest was organised during EXPO REAL 2013 in Munich, one of the world’s most important investment fairs. Nearly 40 projects from around the world took part in the contest for the best commercial real estate. The winner - the Grohman Factory - offers fully equipped office space with modern conference and training rooms, while maintaining the historical character of the building. The award gives Lodz and the surrounding Lodzkie province the opportunity for extra promotion and prestige as EXPO REAL is the largest event of its kind in Europe.

BorgWarner Inc. announced that is will expand its campus in the Podkarpackie Science and Technology Park in Rzeszow, with a new production plant and engineering center.

The Company stated that the 7,300 square meter production plant produces advanced chain-driven engine timing systems, including variable cam timing technologies, and provides expanded capacity for transmission components. The Company added that the new technological center aims to broaden its engineering and R&D capabilities, and provides application engineering and design, simulation, testing, and validation as well as material labs and vehicle workshops. James R. Verrier, President and CEO, BorgWarner, said, “Our continued investments in Poland strengthen BorgWarner’s market position throughout Europe. The demand for our fuel-efficient technologies is likely to increase within the next few years, especially in Europe where Euro 6 emissions regulations take effect in 2014. The infrastructure of the Rzeszow area gives us the opportunity to meet growing customer demand through localized production.”

PAIZ looks for new investors in the United States

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A PAIZ delegation led by deputy president Anna Polak-Kocinska went to US to meet with a group of American companies. As a result five new projects were added to the list of investors supported by PAIZ. Representatives of PAIZ and of three Polish SEZs visited Boston, Detroit and Atlanta. They were hosted by companies from the automotive, aerospace and plastics sectors. During meetings the delegation from Poland presented the potential of Polish economy and the opportunities offered by SEZs.

$100 million windmill expansion Bilfinger Crist Offshore (BCO) will invest at least 326 million zlotys in a factory near Szczecin to produce elements for windmills. It will produce offshore wind tower foundations for wind turbines and steel structures.

SEZ Special Economic Zone’s first office in Kaliningrad The Warmia-Mazury Special Economic Zone opened its first office in Kaliningrad on 3 October, to provide services for Polish companies.

Radomsko investment potential

the meeting will lead to opportunities to establish business cooperation and exchange of experience between all parties.

Cooperation with Kyrgyzstan Twenty visitors from the Kyrgyz government arrived in Warsaw to meet PAIZ and exchange views on investment incentives and the process of acquiring foreign investment in Poland. They also came to gather information about the possibilities of cooperation of both countries. The delegation led by Sariyev Temir Argiembayevich, the Kyrgyz minister of economy, consisted of deputy ministers of finance, labour, agriculture and irrigation.

Ukrainians visit Poland As a part of a project entitled Implementation of Polish experience in attracting foreign direct investment to selected areas of Ukraine, a visit of representatives of Ukraine’s State Agency for Investment and National Projects as well as members of regional development centres was held in October. The meeting was intended as an exchange of experiences; the Polish side explained the system of investor incentives and the role of technology parks in Poland. The study tour programme also included also a meeting with representatives of PAIZ, a visit to the Pomeranian Special Economic Zone, and to the Baltic Park of New Technologies.

New investment in Legnica SEZ

The mayor of Radomsko and PAIZ hosted a conference entitled “Radomsko - open to investors” on 15 October. Participants exchanged views on the city’s investment potential, expectations of foreign investors and issues related to the acquisition of foreign capital. A discussion panel with representatives of the city of Radomsko, Lodz SEZ and PAIZ were a key element of the programme. The panel focused on how to acquire new investments in times of economic downturn.

German toy manufacturer Sieper will invest more than PLN 25m and create 40 new jobs in Zlotoryja, a subzone of Legnica SEZ. The investor plans to build a production facility, where a new assembly line will be installed. Sieper is a company with German capital that operates in the toy industry. It produces metal models under the Siku brand-name. So far this year, Legnica SEZ has issued five new business permits.

The estimated total value of the inbound investments is PLN 225m, due to create nearly 250 new jobs.

Baltic Business Forum in Swinoujscie

MotoSolutions Forum for the Automotive Industry

The Baltic Business Forum was held in Swinoujscie under the slogan “Europe: North, East -Business without Borders”.

PAIiIZ was a co-organiser of the event. The Baltic Business Forum was opened by deputy prime minister Janusz Piechocinski.

PAIZ deputy president Anna PolakKocinska indicated that Swinoujscie is a good place to talk about the common issues facing Poland, Germany, Russia and Ukraine. She also expressed the hope that

On 21-22 November 2013, in Jawor near the city of Bielsko-Biala will be the 4th MotoSolutions Forum Best Practices in the Automotive Industry. The meeting is dedicated to top and middle level managers working in the automotive sector. The idea behind the two-day forum is to present the best solutions applied by automotive manufacturers in their day-to-day work.

More information: www.motosolutions.pl (Automotive-Suppliers) n

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Łódź UK private group Peakside sells Lodz business park Specialist European real estate private equity firm Peakside Capital has sold the Diamond Business Park on behalf of its Polonia Property Fund. It gave no price details for disposal of the 60,800 sq.m. warehouse situated in Lodz. In an announcement in late October, just after news that Peakside hired former Heitman and KSP REIM executive Otis Spencer as new president of Peakside Polonia Management, the group said the disposal of Diamond Business Park is in line with Polonia I’s investment strategy to dispose of stabilised assets. It follows

City Investment News the completion of the fund’s strategic asset management program including a successful leasing-up and project refinancing of the asset.

Peakside has also strengthened the management team by appointing one of the principals Boris Olujic, to the board of Peakside Polonia Management, joining Peakside founding partner Stefan Aumann. Olujic led the acquisition of PPM from Allied Irish Bank in August 2012, and will continue to be responsible for sourcing investments in central and eastern Europe. In addition, the firm has secured the extension of the term of Polonia I to ensure orderly disposal of assets with the aim of maximising investor returns, a process anticipated to be completed by July 2016.The extension received strong support from investors, with over 85% voting in favour.

Peakside is owned by its employees and was established following a spin out of the European Real Estate Principal Investments division of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in September 2010. As of last year, Peakside managed 43 investments across nine different European countries, totalling over €2 billion in gross asset value.

Fibre piggybacking: How Poland found a way to get the fastest broadband to the remotest regions While fibre broadband for businesses and consumers is still far from standard in Poland, some individual areas have started projects to widen its availability.

One of the first municipalities to start offering fibre broadband to homes and private businesses is Nowosolna, a rural community of around 4,000 inhabitants, part of the Lodz urban conglomeration. By hopping on to a project to connect schools in the wider Lodz area to broadband internet, the municipality is helping the households and businesses (mostly farms) in the 15 villages that make up the area to get a fibre connection as well.

Legally, Nowosolna needed to jump through some hoops to be able to widen the project to connect private properties to a GPON network that physically runs parallel to the educational network, as the funds provided by the city of Lodz, a neighbouring district and the European Union were strictly earmarked for educational purposes for the wider region.

“Therefore, we couldn’t just connect the homes to the planned network,” said Jan Kieler, deputy mayor of Nowosolna, who’s

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City Investment News responsible for the execution of the project on the local government side. “Instead, we decided to install parallel cables next to the planned school network, paid for from our own budget and investments from network operator Toya.”

For its part, Toya got its own project for European funding off the ground.

The cost of digging the main artery could be split (between the education project, funded by the region, and the private one, between Nowosolna and Toya), which made the deal good enough for the other parties to agree. Digging started in the beginning of 2012 and so far about 500 people in the Nowosolna municipality have got fibre access. The rest should be connected over the course of 2014 and the first half of 2015.

One village already had a fibre cable running through part of its territory, but has so far been inaccessible for Toya, the main operator of the new network. “Up until a while back, only copper wires could be rented out to other operators,” Kieler said.

“However, not long ago the law changed to include fibre as well, so talks are in progress” between Toya and the ISP that owns the fibre.

Like with most rural broadband projects, much of it is paid from European funds.

According to Kieler, Toya managed to get around 3.5m zlotys of EU investment. Toya itself had to put in another 3.5m zlotys, and Nowosolna added around 800,000 zlotys to the pot. The school project (the Metropolitan Broadband Internet Access Network project) from which it all started is mostly funded by European money: around €9m of the total €12m budget for the scheme is European money.

Kieler admitted Toya has been given a good deal when it comes to rent of the ground under which the cables run. “Of course, we couldn’t just give it to them, because that would be against the law,” Kieler said, “so we agreed upon a sum of 1000 zlotys (€250) a month, which covers our costs as a municipality.”

Since the first plans were drawn up in Nowosolna in 2009, this type of ‘piggybacking’ has taken off in rural Poland as a whole. “I think we are the second municipality to do this,” Kieler said. “Now, local governments across the country have taken similar steps.”

Source: ZD Net

Lodz-Chengdu express rail service to boost China-EU trade

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A regular express train from Poland to southwest China’s Sichuan province is expected to be inaugurated by the end of

this month, authorities with Sichuan’s Chengdu city said.

The first one-way express rail service in the opposite direction — from Chengdu to Lodz in central Poland, crossing Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus — began running on April 24.

The rail transport is organized by China’s Chengdu Hatrans YHF Intermodal Logistics, and Lodz-based logistics firm Hatrans is the train operator in Poland.

“Twenty-three trains have so far traveled from China to Poland, transporting 1,886 TEUs,” said Chen Zhongwei, director of the General Office of Chengdu Municipal Leading Group for Modern Logistics Development.

The one-way service, traveling 9,826 km in 12 days, is eight to 10 days faster than ordinary trains, but thus far has traveled back empty to China during the initial trial operation period.

The operation of the railway from Poland back to China is expected to help boost Sino-European trade, transporting products including European cars to China next month.

New Convention Bureau in Lodz Poland Convention Bureau has announced the opening of a convention bureau in Lodz.

The official opening of the Lodz Convention Bureau (LCB) took place on 28 October and was attended by 80 guests, including representatives of the meetings industry, cultural facilities and the media.

Guests were formally welcomed by City Mayor Hanna Zdanowska.

The event included a presentation by Bartomiej Wojdak, Director of the Bureau of Promotion, Tourism and International Co-operation in the Lodz City Hall, on ‘Business tourism as a trade mark tourism product of Lodz’, while LCB’s Coordinator, Anna Mokrosinska presented a framework action plan for the LCB. Guests were also able to take part in a tour of the city and its meetings and event venues.

Mid Europa buys out Lodz-based entrepreneur Mid Europa Partners-backed Diagnostyka has acquired Poland-based Olympus

Consilio as part of the firm’s consolidation strategy of the laboratory market in the CEE region.

Diagnostyka did not receive funding from its private equity backer to finance the acquisition, Mid Europa director Paweł Padusiński confirmed in a statement.

Following the bolt-on, Olympus Consilio will change its name to Diagnostyka Consilio. Diagnostyka has stated that it will expand on its investment in Consilio by opening new pathology labs and making further acquisitions in the sector.

Mid Europa and its portfolio companies have been executing a consolidation strategy of the CEE laboratory market. Earlier this week the firm’s portfolio company, Alpha Medical, acquired the Czech laboratory business of medical services provider Euromedic.

Not long after Mid Europa bought Diagnostyka in 2011, the firm acquired Polish lab diagnostics provider Dr n med Teresa Fryda Laboratorium Medyczne as part of its consolidation strategy.

The GP acquired Diagnostyka in February 2011 via its Mid Europa Fund III vehicle, which closed in November 2007 on €1.5bn, making it the largest fund ever raised in the CEE region, according to unquote data. Diagnostyka is a Krakowbased diagnostic laboratory service provider with a network of more than 50 laboratories. Mid Europa owns the company alongside its founders.

Mid Europa, which focuses its investments predominantly in central and eastern Europe, recently completed one of the largest private equity exits in the region, selling Serbian pay TV provider SBB/ Telemach Group to KKR for an estimated €1bn. Mid Europa reaped a 3x blended return on the divestment.

Founded in 2005, Consilio is headquartered in Łódź and employs approximately 30 staff. The company provides pathology examinations to hospitals, clinics and individual medical practices, specialising in histopathology and cytopathology. Histopathology is the microscopic study of disease using tissue samples procured through surgery, autopsy or biopsy.

Cytopathology is the study and diagnosis of disease on a cellular level.

Jakub Swadźba is the founder of Diagnostyka, while Boguslaw Olborski is the lead pathologist at Consilio. Mid Europa director Paweł Padusiński, associate director Jan Krzewiński and associate Artur Sieńczewski supported Diagnostyka’s management in the transaction.

Source: Unquote.com

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Trojmiasto Fitch affirms City of Gdansk at ‘BBB+’; outlook Stable Fitch Ratings has affirmed the City of Gdansk’s Long-term foreign and local currency ratings at ‘BBB+’, and its National Long-term rating at ‘AA-(pol)’.

KEY RATING DRIVERS The affirmation reflects Gdansk’s strong operating performance, its prudent financial management and effective monitoring of budget, which results in a strong self-funding capacity and healthy debt ratios. The ratings also take into account projected high, but declining, capital expenditure, persistent pressure on operating expenditure and growing maintenance costs in completed investments. Fitch expects the city to maintain an operating balance at about 10%-11% of operating revenue in 2013-2015, which will allow Gdansk to cover its annual debt-service obligations of PLN145m p.a. by about 1.2x-2x on average. Fitch expects Gdansk’s capital expenditure to start declining in 2013, as large infrastructure investments approach completion. These large investments should still remain high at PLN 900m in 2013 (32% of total expenditure) but are down from PLN 1,100m in 2012 (39% of total expenditure), and should continue to fall below PLN500m by 2015.

As capital revenue and the current balance will finance the majority of capital expenditure, debt financing needs should remain limited. However, completed investments may put pressure on the budget in the medium term, due to growing maintenance costs. Fitch forecasts that investments may increase Gdansk’s direct debt to PLN 1,400m by 2015, but the latter should stabilise at 65%-70% of current revenue (PLN 1,227m or 64% of current revenue in 2012).

This is because Fitch expects revenue to rise based on growth of income and property taxes, supported by the expansion of the city’s tax base. Because the majority of Gdansk’s debt was drawn from international financial institutions, the city has

2013 November

City Investment News low funding costs, a long debt maturity and a smooth debt repayment profile. Like other Polish subnationals, Gdansk has historically faced pressure to increase operating expenditure. This is driven mainly by under-funded responsibilities that were transferred to local governments by the state and inflexible spending on education and social care.

Gdansk in finals for ICCA Best Marketing Award In October, the finalists of the ICCA Best Marketing Award were announced. Among the finalists of this year’s competition is the Gdansk Convention Bureau/Gdansk Tourist Organization.

Gdansk Convention Bureau/Gdansk Tourist Organizasation was nominated for its CSR project - Gdansk Christmas Baubles held during EIBTM 2012 in Barcelona. The other finalists are: Melbourne Convention Bureau, Palais des Congres de Montreal and VisitDenmark.

The ICCA Best Marketing Award, established in 1997, recognises the excellence and outstanding achievements of organizations in their effort to market their destination or product.

The goal of the project Gdansk Christmas Baubles was to help to promote the city of Gdansk during EIBTM through the involvement of all exhibitors, hosted buyers and visitors in a Christmas CSR project.

Different kind of gifts were collected and given to children from a Spanish organization which supports education and development of young people growing up in difficult environments. Gdansk Convention Bureau/GTO purchased educational materials and encouraged co-exhibitors to donate gifts.

“The effect of the campaign is phenomenal. According to our data the information potentially reached 625 000 people, including representatives of associations and corporations present at the exhibition.

Moreover Gdansk was present in the international press. Equivalent is valued for more than 8 million EUR. In my opinion

the idea of Gdansk Christmas Baubles was brilliant in its simplicity, “ said Marta Wisniewska, Coordinator of Gdansk Convention Bureau/GTO .

Gdansk Convention Bureau representatives will present the project during the ICCA Congress in Shanghai. Results will be announced on Nov. 6.

Throughput of port Gdansk up 22% in period Jan-Sept 2013 In January-September 2013, the Port of Gdansk handled 22,396,344 tonnes of cargo (+22%, year-on-year), the company states. Transshipment of grain surged by 61% to 993,039 tonnes, general cargo and timber climbed by 19% to 7,888,487 tonnes, other bulk cargo (aggregates, sulphur, ore) dropped by 44.9% to 1,965,590 tonnes, coal transshipment boosted 3 times to 3,695,485 tonnes, transshipment of liquid fuel climbed by 23.9% to 7,853,743 tonnes.

The port of Gdansk has become a major international transportation hub situated in the central part of the southern Baltic coast. Besides handling bulk cargoes (oil, coal, metal ores) the port provides a number of line services linking it with the ports of the Baltic Sea and Western Europe (primarily ferry, construction and ro-ro lines). In 2012, the Port of Gdansk handled 26,898,136 tonnes of cargo.

Playsoft enters the Olivia Business Centre in Gdansk The French IT company Playsoft has leased 800 sq m of office space in Olivia Business Centre in Gdansk. CBRE advised the Tenant in the negotiation process. Playsoft employs in Gdansk approximately 80 professionals, including programmers, game testers and graphic designers.

Olivia Four, with a leasable area of 14,500 sq m, is being constructed as the fourth building of the office complex Olivia Business Centre, located in the neighborhood of the Gdansk University’s campus. The building will be delivered in March 2014. The whole office park consists of seven buildings with a total area of 120,000 sq m. Playsoft will move to their new office in May 2014.

“Our investment is a particularly interesting option for BPO clients. This is the next French company that enters our project. The first was SII which started with several dozen of people and now employs 400 professionals. We believe that Playsoft will be also fast developing in Poland”, said Maciej Kotarski of TPS, the company responsible for the development and leasing of Olivia Business Centre. n

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Szczecin Plastics manufacturer expands production Eco-Blend has announced plans to invest at least 74m zloty in setting up a new production plant in Goleniów. The plant is to use recycled plastic waste blended with recycled crumb rubber to make XyCom TPE. The product is mainly used in injection moulding of components intended for the automotive and roadbuilding industry.

Located about 37km from the city of Szczecin, the Goleniów-based facility will be developed in the Kostrzyńsko-Słubicka special economic zone. This will provide the Polish manufacturer with preferential tax treatment for its latest investment.

Eco-Blend is aiming to take on at least 49 workers at the planned factory by December 31, 2014, the KSSEZ said in a statement.

“The launch of the investment is planned for October 2014, and it is scheduled to be completed by December 31, 2014,” the statement said. Set up in 2013, Eco-Blend is headquartered in Szczecin.

Tender for reconstruction of section of national road No. 6 Szczecin - Gdańsk The Municipal Road Works in Koszalin has announced a tender for the reconstruction of a city section of the national road No. 6 Szczecin - Gdańsk. The investment will be 85 percent financed from EU grants.

Bids on the section - almost 800 meters length - will be accepted until December 16th. The work is to be done by 30 June

Poznan Fitch rates City of Poznan ‘A-’; outlook Stable

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Fitch Ratings has published the City of Poznan’s Long-term foreign and local currency ratings of ‘A-’ with Stable Outlook.

Poznan’s ratings reflect the city’s sound strategic and financial management, its financial flexibility, a strong operating performance, as well as its wealthy and diversified local economy and tax base. The ratings also take into account the city’s moderate levels of direct debt by international standards, and Fitch’s expectations that they will remain stable in 2014-2015.

The ratings also reflect projected further growth of the city’s indirect debt relating to its companies, the majority of which

2014 bid, and the deposit for bid was at 50,000 pln. The estimated cost of the project is 5.1 million pln.

The project will include the need to lay asphalt on the surface of almost 12,000 sq m, including 3,000 sq m of sidewalks and bike paths.

Delays have slowed down the settlement of the competition for the prime contractor of Brdowskiego bridge to the island of Gryfia in Szczecin area. The final decision has been postponed by at least one month.

Initially, the tender for the contractor of the bridge had to be decided by October 25, now it is postponed to November 25. The commission is trying to include Budimex and Skanska. The bridge is 200 meters

long, and will have a lattice structure consisting of three spans. Its construction is expected to take 10 to 14 months, and cost about 40 million pln, mostly financed by the EU. The construction of the bridge at this point was planned way back in the 1960s, For many decades the Szczecin Shipyard Repair Gryfia to bear the costs of maintaining the crossing. If November 25 is opened the envelope , then you will have to wait another 10 days - the time limit for appeal.

Then a special company set up this project under the name of Mars Most Brdowski sign a contract with the contractor.

For now, the give-away Gryfia leads a temporary pontoon bridge . Last week started construction of a factory where the foundations for offshore wind farms - is to be ready for one and a half years . n

should be self-supported. The rating drivers and their relative weights are as follows: KEY RATING DRIVERS Fitch views the city’s financial flexibility and financial and strategic management as rating strengths. As a result Poznan is well-positioned to face unexpected adverse events similar to the sharp economic downturn witnessed in 2011-2012. During this difficult period the city proved its ability to maintain strong operating performance, despite the economic downturn negatively impacting its tax revenue and unexpected expenses being incurred. The agency forecasts the city’s operating balance for 2013 may amount to PLN 280m or a high 11% of operating revenue. The operating balance should cover debt service (projected at about PLN220m annually for 2014-2016, including principal repayments

and interests) by 1.2x. Debt service for 2013 may amount to PLN410m, up from PLN264m in 2012, as the city repays PLN 128m one-year loans from high EU grants received and plans to refinance of PLN 65m of loans incurred on less than favourable terms. Fitch expects Poznan’s debt to stabilise at about 78% of current revenue in 2013-2015 (below PLN 2bn in nominal terms), following slower investment activity in 2014-2015 due to lower EU grants available. This is because the 2007-2013 EU financial framework is being phased out and grants under the next new EU financial framework may not be available until 2016.

Poznan’s diversified and wealthy economy has resulted in gross regional product per capita being two times the national average and in tax revenues accounting

Bridge design ready; but contractor must wait

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www.bizpoland.pl for 50% of operating revenue. Because of its higher-than-average tax revenue per capita, the city is obliged to contribute to the state under the equalisation mechanism (estimated PLN65m for 2013). The city benefits from a predictable regulatory regime. Long-term financial projections and regular disclosure of annual accounts provide visibility to the city’s economic activities.

Netia launches Integrated Communications Centre in Poznan Polish operator Netia has opened an Integrated Communications Centre in the Poznan City Centre shopping centre. The Integrated Communications Centre serves as a Wi-Fi hot spot and marketing communication platform. The Wi-Fi (WLAN) network covers 60,000 square metres of shopping area, which is the biggest homogenous hot-spot in Poland, serving 16

million visitors a year. Netia also provides Wi-Fi (WLAN) networks in other shopping galleries in Warsaw: Arkadia (110,000 square metres), Mokotow Gallery (62,300 square metres), Wilenska (40,000 square metres) and other galleries in Poland. In PCC, Netia deployed 90 kilometres worth of cabling over two months, with a 25year guarantee. At PCC, Netia offers a full portfolio of advanced services, including MPLS, WLAN, and Netia Ethernet, based on SDH and MetroEthernet. To provide for security and uninterrupted services, Netia serves the centre in several independent ways and maintains an on-site team of engineers.

Trigranit opens Poznan mall In Poznan City Center, Trigranit was joint ventured with Europa Capital and PKP Polish railways on the project, located in a former rail track area. The retail and leisure offer in the centre encompasses 230 shops and 35 bars, restaurants and cafes over three levels with two food court areas. Key tenants include Sportsdirect.com, Toys “R” Us and North Fish. The Poznan Glowny railway station as well as a 19 terminal bus station was integrated, ensuring excellent public transport links with the additional benefit of an adjoining tram stop.

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City Investment News Europa Capital’s James Pennington commented: “We are very proud of what has been achieved at Poznan City Center and believe this excellent development will change the face of retail in central Poznan.” Added TriGranit Development Chairman Sandor Demjan: “This project clearly demonstrates TriGranit’s expertise in developing existing central train stations and reshaping them into exciting new city centres, having gained experienced know-how from our involvement in WestEnd City Center, Budapest and Emonika City Center, Ljubljana.”

New 24 million pln office building in Poznan The foundation stone for the construction of a new office building within Poznan Technology Industrial Park was laid in Poznan. The project will cost more than 24 million pln, of which 18.5 million pln will be via a preferential loan from the EU fund Jessica.

The seven-storey building - the second segment of the investment - will be Class “A “ with an area of 5500 sm, to be completed by year-end 2014.

“We rent space on a commercial basis, but the priority will be entrepreneurs who currently operate within our business incubator”, said the president Grzegorz Michalski of the Centre for Investment Promotion, the company managing the Poznan Technology Industrial Park.

In subsequent years, a third building of 5,000 sm will be developed.

The total value of the entire project, which will be completed in 2015, is nearly 74 million pln. Part of the investment is to be made on the basis of a grant of nearly 10 million pln by the European Regional Development Fund.

Jessica Initiative is an abbreviation of the English name of the Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas, which means the Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas. This European initiative for financial support backs urban regeneration, new development of problematic lands, or former military sites. PPTP is the first European public investment, which was created by the EU initiative. Greater Investment Promotion Centre is a company whose sole shareholder is the city of Poznan.

Wroclaw Wroclaw’s American Film Festival for independents

Short Term 12 and Big Easy Express took home top prizes at the 4th American Film Festival in Wroclaw.

The American Film Festival (AFF) in Wrocław, Poland has awarded the audience award for Best Narrative Feature ($10,000) to Destin Daniel Cretton’s Short Term 12.

The audience award for the Best Documentary Feature ($5,000) went to Emmett Malloy for Big Easy Express.

The festival, focused entirely on independent American cinema, closed with the Polish premiere of Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra on Oct 27.

A total of 80 films were screened at the Nowe Horyzonty cinema in Wrocław, of which 52 films received their Polish premiere such as Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive, As I Lay Dying by James Franco and Don Jon by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

There were three European premieres and one world premiere, Blue Highway by Kyle Smith.

The number of admissions exceeded 17,000 for the second consecutive year.

The AFF also featured a retrospective of Shirley Clarke, a mini-retrospective of Christine Vachon’s productions and presented, among others, the works of James Benning, and 14 digitally re-mastered productions by the Warner Brothers Studio as part of the “Masterpieces of American cinema. 90 years of Warner Bros.” section.

At the third US in Progress Wrocław - a works-in-progress event targeted at US independent filmmakers and European buyers - six films were presented to a group of over 50 professionals.

As previously announced, main awards consisting of post-production and promotional services worth $60,000 went to Sun Belt Express by Evan Wolf Buxbaum and Lake Los Angeles by Mike Ott. Other presented films were: Summer of Blood by Onur Tukel, Wild Canaries by Lawrence Michael Levine, Happy Baby

by Stephen Elliott and Some Beasts by Cameron Nelson.

This year’s participants included programmers from Rotterdam FF, Tribeca FF and Semaine de la Critique and buyers such as Match Factory, K5, The Works, Urban

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City Investment News Distribution, Wide Management, Reel Suspects, Film Republic, New Europe Film Sales and Sophie Dulac Distribution.

Synexus opens regional office in Wroclaw UK-based patient-recruitment and trialmanagement business Synexus has opened a regional office for Eastern Europe in Wroclaw.

The new 3,000 sq ft office in Wroclaw’s Sky Tower will enable Synexus further to strengthen a regional team with more than a decade’s experience in Eastern Europe, the company noted.

The team will be responsible for Synexus’ patient-engagement programmes and for managing the company’s nine dedicated research centres across Poland, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine and Bulgaria.

Wroclaw was the first of four Synexus sites in Poland, where last year the company acquired Warsaw-based clinical research organisation Medical Centre Osteomed. The other two sites are in Gdynia and Katowice.

In August 2009, Synexus completed the acquisition of CLCC, which operated three clinical trial centres in Warsaw, Gdynia and Katowice. Synexus, which has been active in Poland since 2006, expanded its operations in Gydnia the following July.

Wroclaw was also the first Synexus site to be selected for Pfizer’s INSPIRE (Investigator Networks, Site Partnerships and Infrastructure for Research Excellence) network. These sites have early access to data from the Pfizer portfolio and advanced information on clinical trials to be sponsored by the US-based multinational. They are also involved in journal publications, protocol design, advisory boards and best-practice sharing across the INSPIRE network.

Commenting on the latest investment, Synexus regional managing director Dr Radoslaw Janiak said the company’s success in Eastern Europe was “based on our ability to deliver patients and quality data to our clients in pharma”.

Gant bankruptcy hearing adjourned - decision postponed to November

too brief and general, and in this form can not address them.

By 7 November, a quarterly report that contains detailed information will be included on the financial situation of the debtor. The court asked the opinion of the supervisor, who had become familiar with the condition of the company. He asked the judge for an extension of the deadline to submit his detailed analysis.

“I think the corrective actions proposed by the company are moving in the right direction”, he said at the court hearing. “It is important that the company broadly described the corrective actions it intends to take, including proposed savings. In addition, it should develop alternative B for a debt restructuring.

The court decided to postpone the decision on bankruptcy of Gant to November 18.

On 30 October, the court held its first hearing on the liquidation of Wroclaw-based developer Gant Development. The court decided to defer settlement of the case at the request of a court supervisor.

The Division for Bankruptcy and Recovery in Wroclaw is considering six applications for bankruptcy liquidation of Gant.

Creditors did not agree on the proposals of the bankruptcy of Gant, which means the company can still function. They concluded that the developer’s proposals were

Lower Silesia puts broadband network operation out to tender

The project is currently going through a design review process as the basis of a building permit application scheduled for April 2014.

T-Mobile CR, Slovak Telekom participate in Krakow hub:raum

Poland’s Lower Silesia region has announced a tender to select an infrastructure operator for the region’s broadband network, reports Rpkom.pl. The operator will act under a public-private partnership.

It will lease the network under a concession agreement and provide wholesale services for its operation. The deployment of the 1,600 kilometre network is expected to cost PLN 204 million. n

Krakow 1,000-bed Student housing scheme in Krakow

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Architecture firm Broadway Malyan has won a competition to design a residential refurbishment scheme for students at Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum in Krakow.

The 17,500 m2 scheme will be delivered for client Bouygues which is managing the project, set to be one of the first of its kind in Poland to be fully arranged via a Public Private Partnership (PPP).

It will see three existing 10-storey accommodation blocks, originally built during the Soviet era, overhauled through an internal reconfiguration, full refurbishment and new façade design.

A pavilion building housing educational and administrative facilities will also be partially refurbished and a wide range of new recreational and sports facilities, including a multi-purpose pitch, volleyball and tennis courts and running track, will be built on the fourhectare site.

The Krakow incubator hub:raum supported by Deutsche Telekom is organising

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an eight-day turbo-acceleration (development) programme for start-up entrepreneurs and creative individuals who want to boost their ideas. The programme, named Warp, will offer mentoring, seminars and financial support for new enterprises across Europe. T-Mobile Czech Republic and Slovak Telekom are participating too. Applications for visionary and unique projects in the field of internet and mobile communications will be accepted until 17 November. Teams should consist of a minimum of two and a maximum of four members. Individual applicants can apply, too.

Applications can be submitted via the website of the Krakow innovation centre www.hubraum.com/apply. New projects could stand to receive funding to the tune of EUR 10,000 to EUR 30,000 in the preseed stage, in which no capital participation is required. In the seed stage, requiring capital participation of 10 - 30 percent, the financial support is EUR 30,000 - EUR 50,000. Deutsche Telekom Group established hub:raum in Krakow in April this year. It focuses on supporting innovative projects in Central and Eastern Europe.

DP Poland opens first store in Krakow – first outside Warsaw DP Poland, which through its whollyowned subsidiary DP Polska SA has the exclusive right to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in Poland. says additional stores in Krakow will be opened in the coming months.

Chief executive Peter Shaw said: “Extending outside of Warsaw is key to our strategy of developing a successful Domino’s franchise in Poland. Krakow is a significant and affluent city that meets our roll-out criteria. We are excited about the opportunity Krakow gives our business and we look forward to further extending our brand reach in the near future.”

Another big investor choses Krakow Another international company - a global leader in technology - Samsung Electronics opened on 30 October its Center for Research and Development. The company is based in the Quattro Business Park.

“This investment shows that Krakow is becoming increasingly attractive not only as a , but also as a place of great intellectual capital that attracts creative businesses.

Krakow is appreciated by Samsung, which decided on our city as the location for its center. I am sure it is a very good step, because Krakow is an investment in prestige”, said Krakow Mayor Jacek Majchrowski.

“It’s hardly surprising that the Centre was located in Krakow. Krakow is still the capital of Polish science”, said the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Poland Young Sun Paek.

Samsung Electronics Office in Krakow will focus on software development for mobile Infrastructures for major operators across Europe. The company wants to increase its capacity to support European mobile operators in developing solutions for infrastructure.

Katowice/Slask TKP builds school fibre-optic network in Katowice Polish company TKP plans to complete deployment of a fibre-optic network in the city of Katowice by end-2013, reports Rpkom.pl. The size of the investment totals PLN 11 million, with the network being built under the SilesiaNet programme.

A total of 133 locations, mainly schools and pre-schools, will be connected to the 140 km network.

2013 November

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Eastern Poland Lublin powers buses with solar cells

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In a move to reduce energy consumption and make public transport ‘greener’, the city of Lublin has installed flexible thin film solar cells from Midsummer on the roofs of its municipal buses.

The Municipal Transport Company (MPK) in Lublin has installed photovoltaic thin film CIGS solar panels on its buses’ roofs. The solar panels turn solar energy into electric energy and are used to load the buses’ batteries. This will decrease the buses’ alternators load, leading to lower fuel consumption and bringing both economic and ecological profits.

Potential savings are estimated at up to 8,000 zloty per bus per year. The system’s payback period is estimated at a mere two years, taking into consideration only the fuel consumption reduction and not the overall environmental benefits. After two years, the solar energy solution will create compound surpluses for MPK for the remainder of the panels’ life span that will outlast the lifetime of the bus.

The Lublin solar bus project will initially run for two years, after which it will be evaluated. The first solar bus is already in operation.

The thin film solar cells have been manufactured by Midsummer, a leading Swedish supplier of equipment for cost effective

manufacturing of CIGS thin film flexible solar cells, and installed on MPK’s fleet of Scania buses. The project is a cooperation between MPK and the Lublin University of Technology.

“As opposed to the more traditional silicon-based solar cells, thin film CIGS solar panels are flexible and light weight and therefore ideal to be mounted on moving vehicles – and also on many buildings, landfills etc,” said Sven Lindström, CEO, Midsummer. “If a city in north central Europe can install thin film solar panels on its public transport vehicles with energy cost efficiency and a short payback period, imagine the potential for larger cities in sunnier parts of the world for introducing solar energy to its vehicles and buildings.”

“We firmly believe that thin film CIGS solar cells are the solar cells of the future.

They are increasingly efficient and have many advantages over traditional siliconbased solar cells. They are durable, can withstand vibrations, can be curved and bent, and can be manufactured cost-efficiently in small volumes.”

“The thin film panels on the buses in Lublin are characterized by flexibility and shock resistance,” said Professor Miroslaw Wendeker from the Faculty of Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics and Aerospace Propulsion at University of Technology in Lublin in an earlier interview with the Polish Press Agency.

“These cells have better absorption

feature than traditional silicon wafers.

They can be configured at will and placed on any roof.”

MPK Lublin Ltd. is the biggest public transport carrier in Lublin with a fleet of 60 trolleybuses and 215 buses.

Tender for the newest section of Podlasie S8 Warsaw - Bialystok The tender for the construction of the last 14 km stretch of the S8 Bialystok and Warsaw - the bypass Mężenina to Jeżewa was announced by the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways in Bialystok.

The tender deadline is 2 December for interested companies. GDDKiA Bialystok spokesman Rafal Malinowski said he does not have a specific idea of which road builders will submit tenders.

The investment is to be completed no later than 24 months from the date of signing the contract with the contractor. The main criterion for selection of the contractor will be proposed price (90 percent).

GDDKiA in September announced a tender for the adjacent section of the road - from the existing bypass Zambrowa and Wiśniewo to Mężenina. This section is 15 km. 18 consortia and companies bid on the project. Malinowski said that calls for specific, selected companies will be sent by mid- December 2013.

The road to Jeżewa cost 680 million pln, while the bypass Zambrowska 325.6 million pln. n

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Portugal

Chambers of Commerce News Brás Jorge was accepted by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority for this function on 1st October 2013.

PPCC in Portugal Exportador Forum 2013

Mota-Engil: Public-private partnership attracts Portuguese

The Polish-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce will be present on Portugal Exportador 2013 Forum that will take place on the 27th of November 2013 at the Congress Centre in Lisbon. Companies present in the Forum are providing support services for export and international business.

The PPCC as an exhibitor will participate in networking clarifying some questions about its services to the visitors and promoting its activity. The Forum Portugal Exportador is the largest network in the area of internationalization in Portugal.

Parking lots, roads, hospitals and incinerators - Mota-Engil is seeking for such investments in PPP. Underground parking at Wroclaw’s Market Square new publicprivate partnership (PPP) is one of the few projects in this formula in Poland which is already running. The contractor and operator of this project is the Portuguese MotaEngil Central Europe Company.

João Brás Jorge appointed Chairman of the Management Board of Millennium Bank The Management Board of Bank Millennium announced that Mr Bogusław Kott, Chairman of the Management Board of Bank Millennium, resigned from his function. The Supervisory Board of Bank Millennium appointed Mr João Brás Jorge for BizPoland.pdf the function of1 Chairman the 13-11-05 of17:01 Management Board of the Bank. Mr João

LPR opens a new subsidiary in Poland With its new base in Poland, LPR-La Palette Rouge (a division of the Euro Pool System Group) is extending its European network to provide a wider-ranging service to customers who rent its pallets.

After Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, Italy and Portugal, LPR announced the opening of an eighth subsidiary in Poland in October.

Lublin Forum Export Import On the 6th November, 2013, the Polish Portuguese Chamber of Commerce (PPCC)

together with Lubelski Klub Biznesu are organizing in Lublin Forum Export Import Co-operation. Forum Export Import Cooperation is a unique event in which entrepreneurs from Lublin have the chance to meet foreign investors. It is a great opportunity to establish business contacts, grow the transfer of know-how and best practices between partners and to promote the bilateral co-operation. n

Japan JETRO organized business mission to Lithuania Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), particularly Warsaw and London offices, in cooperation with Invest Lithuania and Enterprise Lithuania organized a business mission to Lithuania.

The mission took place between 22-24 of October. Trip participants consisted of 22 representatives of 16 Japanese companies from various sectors such as trading, energy, finance, insurance, IT, construction,

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Chambers of Commerce News and electronics. The mission members visited Vilnius, Kaunas and also Klaipeda, which is one of the gateways to the Russian market.

The program included seminars on the business and investment environment in Lithuania, a networking reception at Japanese Embassy and visits to SEZ in Kaunas and Klaipeda as well as visits to several leading companies. The delegation was also welcomed by Lithuania Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius, who pointed out that Lithuania, currently holding the Presidency of the EU, sees as priority activities aiming to facilitate EU negotiations for free trade agreements with strategic partners, including Japan.

JETRO and PAIZ conclude MoU On October 25th Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIZ) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The agreement was conducted in Japan on the occasion of Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Janusz Piechociński visiting the country. The ceremony was attended also by Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Toshimitsu Motegi. Basing on the agreement JETRO and PAIiIZ will strengthen their partnership through exchange of information on investment opportunities in both countries and will support Polish and Japanese entrepreneurs. n

Swiss Polish-Swiss Forum for Dialogue On 22 October 2013 in a conference room of the Polish Sejm a conference was held as a continuation of the Polish-Swiss Forum for Dialogue established in 2011 by the Polish-Swiss Chamber of Commerce. The Embassy of Switzerland in Poland took a patronage over the Forum. The meeting was organized together with the Standing Subcommittee on Public Health of the Health Committee of the Polish Sejm and was devoted to the topic of the national policy for senior citizens in Europe illustrated by the example of Switzerland.

The conference began with a presentation of dr Hans Groth, Chairman of the Board of the World Demographic & Ageing Forum (www.wdaforum.org), who presented Swiss approach to demographic changes. It was followed by a presentation of Ignazio Cassis, Member of the Health Committee of the Swiss Parliament who talked about the national policy for senior citizens in Switzerland with respect to the institutional responsibility of communities, cantons and confederation. After the presentations a moderated debate took place, in which the following panelists took part: Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Igor Radziewicz-Winnicki, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Health,

prof. Bolesław Samoliński, National Consultant on Public Health, Marzena Breza, Director of the Department of Senior Policy ath the Ministry of Labour, poseł Beata Libera-Małecka, Chairwoman of the Standing Subcommittee on Public Health of the Health Committee of the Polish Sejm , Tomasz Latos, Chairman of the Health Committee of the Polish Sejm.

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Spain Spanish Day in Ministry of Economy The Ministry of Economy of Poland, the Spanish Embassy in Poland in cooperation with the Polish – Spanish Chamber of Commerce organized “Spanish Day in Ministry of Economy”. The event was honored by the presence of Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy Janusz Piechociński, Spanish Ambassador in Poland: HE Agustín Núñez Martinez, Commercial Counselor at the Embassy of Spain, Rocio Frutos Ibor, 1st Counsellor, Head of Trade and Investment Promotion Section of the Polish Embassy in Madrid, Mirosław Węglarczyk, representative of Invest in Spain Hugo Castejón. The event was attended by more than 250

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entrepreneurs from Poland and Spain. The main aim of this meeting was the promotion of mutual cooperation. During discussion panels: “Possibilities of investment in Poland and in Spain”, representatives of important companies which operate in both countries, presented their experience. The event was also a great opportunity to establish new business contacts.

Polish–Spanish Forum of Renewable Energy The Polish-Spanish Chamber of Commerce together with the Renewable Energy Association celebrated in Warsaw the 7th edition of the Polish–Spanish Forum of Renewable Energy. The event was attended by delegates of high authority, the Ambassador of Spain in Poland, Agustín Núñez Martínez, Commercial Counselor at the Embassy of Spain, Rocio Frutos Ibor, representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, representatives of Polish cities, as well as companies from the renewable energy sector and experts.

The main purpose of the conference was the discussion about the development of sources of energy, the presentation of active attitude of the pro-investment regions and the profits which are the effect of the investment in the renewable energy. n

Germany Minister of Economy visits German Chamber AHK AHK Poland invited its member firms for breakfast with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Janusz Piechociński.

The main topics of the meeting at the Sofitel Warsaw Victoria were forthcoming EU-US negotiations on a free trade agreement, the strategy of strengthening the competitiveness of the Polish economy, and Special Economic Zones. Especially SEZs will play an important role in the future - not only in attracting investors, but also in the reconstruction of vocational education, and in cooperation with local authorities and with the support of the central government as they have to create new practical training.

The deputy Prime Minister also appreciated the importance of Germany as an economic partner to Poland and supports

2013 November

the promotion of Polish products, for example at trade fairs like CeBIT and the ILA. Piechocinski added that Poland aims to follow the energy policies laid out by Germany.

United Kingdom

Oktoberfest 2013 : Wroclaw, Krakow, British exports to Poland Sopot International Oktoberfest in Wroclaw was organized in cooperation with AmCham and BPCC and the Chambers of Commerce of Scandinavia, Portugal, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands. The Arsenal venue hosted more than 1,000 guests, among whom were Deputy Minister of Economy, Ilona Antoniszyn - Klik, Minister Plenipotentiary of Germany, Joachim Bleicker of the German Embassy in Warsaw, Deputy Consul General of Germany, Heidrun Jung, and Sarah Tiffin with Embassy of the United Kingdom, and Ellen Germain with the Consulate General of the United States. Chairman heads included AHK Poland’s Michael Kern and Dr. Dirk Elvermann (BASF Poland) And for the fourth time Oktoberfest was held in Krakow. As every year, guests sampled German cuisine and Bavarian beers, as well as participated in traditional Oktoberfest games. Two brass bands - the Podstolice and Dobczyce - and Steffen Möller who led the party. Finishing off was also an extraordinary place: the gardens of the Archaeological Museum in Krakow, overlooking the Wawel Hill and the Royal Castle.

This year’s Oktoberfest Pomerania was organized jointly with the Scandinavian - Polish Chamber of Commerce, with a record number of visitors, about 150 people, incuding Annette Klein, Consul General Consulate of Germany in Gdansk. n

The BPCC has significantly stepped up the work it is doing to promote British exports to Poland. A trade team, headed by Patrick Ney, has been set up and is now in place in the new British Polish Business Centre. To put the BPCC’s new strategic direction into a broader context of UK exporters and other British chambers from around the world, the BPCC took part in a three-day long series of events aimed at globally optimising UK trade.

Michael Dembinski and Konrad Kubacki took part in an international trade day with companies from the North-West of England, held at the Lancashire County Cricket Club.

Representatives of 12 British chambers from around the world (including Poland), presented their markets and the opportunities there for UK exporters. Michael and Konrad between them met representatives of 12 companies who wanted to sell their products to Poland. Some needed to find agents or distributors, others needed help in opening doors to strategic clients, whilst most were judged as having products and services that could be sold competitively on the Polish market. Michael Dembinski, the BPCC’s head of policy, said: “This event formula is extremely effective. It gives us the chance to showcase the opportunities for UK exporters in Poland, but even more importantly, it lets us talk faceto-face and offer bespoke practical help to those companies interested in doing business in Poland. I hope that other British chambers around the UK will put on similar events.

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www.bizpoland.pl

Chambers of Commerce News

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Later, the action moved to London, where at the headquarters of the London Chamber of Commerce, representatives of the 12 international chambers met representatives of accredited British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) from around the UK to talk practically about how to mesh their operations so that the ‘push’ from the UK would be synchronised with the ‘pull’ from the international markets. Michael and Konrad were joined by the BPCC’s chairman, Antoni F. Reczek and CEO Paweł Siwecki, the director of the BPCC’s trade team, Patrick Ney, and Monika Samuś, who is responsible for the new British Polish Business Centre. The event gave the Poland team the chance to compare their strengths and weaknesses with other British chambers around the world.

Part of the meeting revolved around accreditation of chambers, so that each one in the network would be delivering services to an agreed standard. “The key thing about accreditation is to ensure that chambers have the governance and resources to carry out the work needed to boost UK exports to a given market,” said Antoni Reczek, who will be helping the BCC accredit British chambers around the CEE region. There was also a discussion about digital platforms, access to databases and trade statistics to make the management of export promotion easier.

The day was rounded off by a speech from Ken Clarke, minister without portfolio and trade envoy.

Then later, at Westminster Central Hall, the BCC held a major export conference, bringing together chambers from around the UK and around the world with UK exporters large and small. As well as hearing addresses from business secretary Vince Cable and his shadow, Chuka Umunna, there were inspiring presentations from speakers associated with legendary UK brands, such as Morgan and Barbour, Tyrrell Crisps and Cobra Beer.

At a panel session looking at the UK chamber network worldwide, Antoni Reczek joined his opposite numbers from Mexico and Indonesia to discuss how British exporters can best be supported while entering foreign markets.

On the last day, the BPCC visited the Polish Embassy in London, to meet the ambassador, Witold Sobków, to discuss the current state of Polish-UK economic and business relations, after which Paweł Siwecki and Michael Dembinski had a meeting with trade attaché Leszek Banaszak focused on joint events to be co-organised during the rest of this year and in 2014. These events will look at sectors such as logistics, defence and security, tourism, fashion and public-private partnerships.

BPCC Kraków – the Małopolska SSC/ BPO sector and real estate market forum The supply hardly keeps pace with the demand in the office property market in Cracow. During another edition of the BPO sector forum, organized by the British-Polish Chamber of Commerce (BPCC) in Cracow, more than 100 participants (including investors, developers, administrators and tenants) connected with that sector tried to determine the directions of the development of the office property market in Cracow and to establish the position of Cracow in comparison to other global office centres that gather together the international SSC/BPO sector.

According to Knight Frank’s estimates, approximately 114,000 square metres of office space is under construction. In accordance with the recent data by Knight Frank, presented by Monika SułdeckaKaraś, the director of the Cracow office of Knight Frank, the Cracow office market is facing a rapid development. A large number of buildings, the largest across the country, are being constructed in the capital of Małopolska.

The issue of the employment in the SSC/ PBO sector aroused the highest interest.

Poland has a negative birth rate, therefore in the long-term perspective it will be providing less and less specialists to this and other sectors. A long-term negative birth rate may cause an inflow of BPO specialists from other countries. This can be seen already now in Cracow where jobs are taken not only by specialists coming from the East but first of all by those from Western European countries.

Jacek Bielawski, Project Coordinator of the Kraków Technology Park, judged that the extension of the period of operation of economic zones until 2026 is an incentive for companies.

Sponsors of the event were UBM, the Vinci Office Centre, Dyskret, Regus, Kinnarps and Knight Frank. n

Canada Poznan City Centre opens its doors On 25th October 2013, less than two years after the Ground Breaking ceremony took place on the site formerly known as “Wolny Tory” (Unused Railway Tracks), the impressive 58,000 sq metre Poznan City Center is opening its doors to the public. More than

6,000 personnel were involved in the construction of the project, a joint venture between Europa Capital, TriGranit and PKP with an estimated 2,500 jobs being created for the local economy in this fine example of a regeneration project.

The retail and leisure offer within the centre encompasses 230 shops and 35 bars, restaurants and cafes over three levels with two food court areas. Key tenants new to Poznan include Sportsdirect.com, Toys “R” Us and North Fish with other large anchor stores including Royal Collection, TK Maxx, H&M, Saturn, Piotri i Paweł.

James Pennington, Europa Capital said: “We are very proud of what has been achieved at Poznan City Center and believe this excellent development will change the face of retail in central Poznan.”

Sándor Demján, Chairman of TriGranit Development Corporation, said: “Poznan City Centre’s excellent location and accessibility, as well as the rich retail and leisure facilities on offer, will provide visitors with a unique experience right in the heart of the city. This project clearly demonstrates TriGranit’s expertise in developing existing central train stations and reshaping them into exciting new city centres, having gained experienced know-how from our involvement in WestEnd City Center, Budapest and Emonika City Center, Ljubljana.” n

France The Warsaw Debates.

“Giving birth to new ideas, to mutual inspirations and transforming ideas into tangible realities relayed through political action” The goal of the Warsaw Debates is to provide representatives of the political, economic, cultural, academic, artistic, student circles with an opportunity to discuss with full freedom of speech, behind locked doors, all opinions being allowed.

The Debates shall take place on Saturday, November 16th 2013 at the Warsaw Royal Castle (Zamek Królewski w Warszawie).

Partners: Jérôme Chartier, Peresident, Les Entretiens de Royaumont; French Embassy in Poland; Foundation Jean Monnet pour l’Europe; The Warsaw Royal Castle n Organized by: CCIFP French Chamber Belgium -ADVERT (½ page)

November 2013

www.bizpoland.pl October 21 October – 15 November Belgian Days 2013 Warsaw and Poznań From 21st October to 15th N ovember 2013, the Belgian Business Chamber is organising the annual Belgian Days, in cooperation with the Embassy of Belgium in Warsaw and the Economic Representations of the Regions: Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia. Special Belgian Beer tasting on 6 November.

November

Business Calendar 13 – 14 November

26 November

VI European Economic Forum 2013 Łódź The main topic of the Forum is modern business services sector and its influence on investment attractiveness of Polish regions.

Discussions during the Forum will focus on BPO/IT branch, its development and benefits for the region.

Mexico-Poland Business Seminar Wroclaw (City Hall) wlopatkiewicz@emexico.pl, 22-311-2925

13 – 15 November MAPIC– European Retailers Expo Cannes www.mapic.com

6 November

16 November

Future4Build Warsaw, Expo XXI

The Warsaw Debates 2013 Reinventing Europe Warsaw’s Royal Castle The Warsaw Debates are inspired by meetings held since 2003 at the Royaumont Abbey in France. In December 2012, two representatives of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Poland participated in the Royaumont Debates, accompanied by a Polish senator. Organized by CCIFP (French Chamber).

“Pacific Alliance – opportunities for development” conference Warsaw Conference on investment and business opportunities in the Pacific region. The organizers: Embassies of Chile, Mexico, Colombia, and Peru. Venue: PAIZ

8 November

27 November Warsaw Economic Hub Forum (organizer: Warsaw Voice) http://cee.warsawvoice.pl/pages/index.php

CEE Green Building Awards Warsaw http://greenbuildingawards.eu/

6 – 7 November

7 November

Poland – Africa 2013 Łódź Business conference about cooperation between Poland and Africa.

28 November

Forum of Export – Import and Cooperation Lublin, Hotel Europa The XI Edition of the Export Import Cooperation Forum. The Forum is organized by Lubelski Klub Biznesu and PolishPortuguese Chamber of Commerce and will focus on cooperation between Polish and Portuguese, especially directed to entrepreneurs from Lublin. www.lkb.lublin.pl

e-Administration Conference Poznań

26 – 27 November

19 November Fleet Market 2013 Warsaw, Expo XXI

28-30 November TT Travel expo Warsaw, MT Expo centre

December 12 December International Christmas Meeting Wrocław

16 – 18 December 8th Energy Forum Sopot

Economic Forum Poland – Turkey Warsaw

11 November Independence Day holiday

11 – 22 November UN Climate Change Conference (COP 19) Warsaw The 19th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC and the 9th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol will take place from 11 to 22 November. The conference will be held at the National Stadium. Warsaw hotels fully packed for 10 days.

2013 November

CEE Outsourcing and Shared Services Awards Gala Polish Food Exports Forum Warsaw

21 November MCI Everest Awards Warsaw (Soho)

6 February, 2014, Warsaw, Hotel Intercontinental www.CeeOutsourcingAwards.com

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www.bizpoland.pl

Events

30 designers show at FashionPhilosophy Fashion Week Poland More than 30 designers and brands presented their dazzling avant-garde collections for the Spring/Summer 2014 season at the just concluded ninth edition of FashionPhilosophy Fashion Week Poland.

Held in Lodz, the event was opened by Japanese fashion designer Junko Koshino’s 40-piece collection.

Predominantly based in black and silver, the hand-painted line was divided into two parts—one was a Japanese culture inspired prêt-a-porter range and the second one was a futuristic haute couture collection designed in collaboration with the world’s famous computer printer maker Epson.

Fashion label Sowik Matyga, owned by the student designers, Martyn Sowik and Mila Matyga, from the Lodz Academy of Fine Arts, featured a bold militaryinspired line, comprised of hooded capes, white mini dresses with large pockets,

patterned shirts, midriff baring cropped tops and black metallic skirts.

Young design talent Malgrau projected the relaxed atmosphere of a sunny, breezy seaside through the resortwear collection Opposites Attract, which included quilted vests, crushed feathery skirts and patterned blouses in a contrasting palette of vivid flashy and matt tones.

Clothing brand Label2, from designer duo Andrea Popovic from Serbia and Alen Pinku from Bosnia, infused elements from Japanese minimalism and trends of the 1990s in its latest runway presentation. Made from nylon, boiled wool and neoprene, the featured ensembles were sculptural coats, jackets and dresses. n

CEE Manufacturing Excellence Awards 2013 The first ever Awards Event for the manufacturing sector in Central and Eastern Europe took place on October 24th at the Marriott Hotel in Warsaw. The organizers were EuropaProperty.com and Trade Media International.

The day started off with the opening of the Manufacturing Strategy Summit, a full day of panels by experts from a diverse cross section

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of manufacturing disciplines. Panelists from General Motors, 3M, Hays, Toyota, Fanuc, Siemens, Astor and many others spoke on issues important to manufacturing leaders.

The Summit was closed by Javier Ruiz, Plant Director at the GM Opel plant in Gliwice with an overview on GM’s transformation to a highly profitable manufacturing company since its restructuring five years ago.

Overall the event was attended by nearly two hundred professionals from the manufacturing sector, including representatives of suppliers to manufacturing companies and executives from the manufacturing companies themselves.

Winners: Industrial Suppliers • Logistics Supplier: Merrid Controls • Maintenance: SKF SA • Professional Service Provider: Hays Recruitment Worldwide • Robotics/Automation: Astor • Enterprise/Industrial Software: QlikTech Factories • Maintenance/Facilities Management/ Industrial Safety: ABB • Sustainability and Environment: Nexteer Automotive • Business and Science: General Motors Manufacturing • Information Technologies (IT): Lynka • Automation/Robotics: Donako • Production Innovation: Philips Lighting • Excellence in Manufacturing Management: Flextronics International Poland • CEO of the Year: John Lynch - C EO, Lynka n

November 2013

www.bizpoland.pl

Events

Ambassador of Sport

Caledonian ‘600 Year’ Ball

October 4, 2013 was the Gala Foundation Feliks Stamm “Warsaw Olympic Nights “ where awards for “AMBASSADOR OF SPORT “ were given. The gala for the first time was held at the National Stadium in Warsaw.

“Warsaw Olympic Nights” Gala is an annual sports awards ceremony organized by the Foundation Feliks Stamm, under the auspices of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, the Polish Olympic Committee, the Office of the Capital City of Warsaw, the voivod Mazowieckie, the National Stadium and the Business Centre Club. The idea behind both the Gala and the Foundation is working actively to support the future of young sporting talent and Polish sport.

During the Gala statuettes were awarded “ AMBASSADOR OF SPORT “ for athletes and businessmen with a passion for sport. The statuette in the category of “ Athlete of the Year 2013 “ was awarded to: Anita Wlodarczyk, Pawel Fajdek, and Piotr Malachowski. The charity auction, led by Andrzej Supron along with Paula Stamm, sold off sports memorabilia, including Robert Lewandowski ‘s autographed Mike Tyson’s boxing gloves.

In mid-October, the Caledonian Society of Warsaw celebrated 600 years of the Scottish Community living and working in Poland, with historically strong cultural and commercial ties with Poland as well as the ruling Polish monarchies over the centuries.

Poland, for the Scots, in the 15th &16th centuries, was like the United States was for the Polish in the 18th & 19th centuries, a land of great opportunity - and still is today. In addition to lots of Scotch whiskey, the Scottish banquet including the infamous Haggis.

Mr. Tad Dorda of Chopin Vodka successfully purchased the Wojtek the Bear Statue.

Mr Dorda’s Uncle was the Lutheran Padre for the Polish Army in Italy during its campaign. Pictured here with the Trustees of the Wojtek the Bear Trust, Mrs Aileen Orr and Krystina Szumelukowska. n

“ Our decision to become a partner of the Foundation is the result of a broader strategy of our company started in Belgium.

It was there in July that we completed Ghelamco Arena, the most modern stadium which was built in Belgium for the past 40 years. We felt that we should expand our involvement in sport and in other countries where Ghelamco is present. We are proud that through the Stamm Foundation makes a contribution to the future of Polish athletes”, said Jeroen van der Toolen, Managing Director CEE Ghelamco. n

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2013 November

CEE Outsourcing and Shared Services Awards Gala 6 February, 2014

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BiznesPolska and BizPoland Magazine are proud to host the second annual CEE Outsourcing and Shared Services Awards Gala (previously named “Poland Outsourcing Awards”).

Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is well-established as a world-class destination for Shared Services centres and BPO investment. With Poland the strongest location in the region, other countries such as the Baltics, Czech Republic and Romania are important investment destinations. Global outsourcing firms, business services projects and sector professionals will be presented with awards of acknowledgment - by an independent jury from the industry - for their contribution to the development of the business services sector in CEE for 2013.

This year we are planning on over 250 guests with more than 50 being international firms interested in setting up or expanding their business services centres in central Europe. The awards gala will be preceded by a half-day of discussion panels covering the shared services and outsourcing sector. The gala and day forum provide an excellent opportunity to make new contacts and renew existing business relationships in a pleasant and social environment.

For full details about Attendance or Sponsorship

www.CEEOutsourcingAwards.pl