vol. 4 no. 7(31) BPO sector employment pushes aside mighty...

November 2012vol. 4 no. 7(31)

BPO sector employment pushes aside mighty Coal

Poland’s business services sector,

growing quickly, will eclipse

employment numbers in the coal

sector by 2013.

EU Budget:

November battle looms

Equities:

Herkules leads Top 10, up 245%

Legal:

Belgian fi ghts to recover 142,000 Euro

Cover Story

4 BPO sector employment pushes aside mighty Coal (4) VII Polish Outsourcing Forum; (6) International Outsourcing Forum, Sopot;

(8) ABSL Conference, Sopot

EU Budget

10 Push for EU budget deal ahead of November summitEquities

11 Poland’s Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) give foreign investors easy access to Polish market

Entrepreneurs

12 Sir Branson inspires Warsaw13 Chopin Airport CityFood Exports

14 SIAL Paris Food Expo pulls in 120,000 visitorsReal Estae

16 Poland makes a strong showing at Expo Real in Munich

Legal

18 Belgian fights to recover swindled 142,000 EuroEnergy

19 The Road to Nowhere: the Government’s Proposed Law on Biogas

20 Energy sectors’ overview22 Solar boom coming to PolandFDI News (24) Chinese–Polish economic cooperation; (25) In Brief

Politics

29 Excerpts from Address of Prime Minister Donald Tusk delivered at the Sejm on 12 October 2012

City Investment News (32) Kraków; (33) Szczecin; (33) Katowice; (34) Łódź; (35) Poznań; (36) Wrocław;

(36) Trójmiasto; (37) Lublin

Chamber of Commerce News (38) United States; (38) Australia; (38) Holland; (39) Germany; (39) Switzerland;

(40) Czech Republic; (40) Japan; (40) Belgium; (40) United Kingdom; (41) Ireland; (41) Portugal; (41) Canada; (42) India; (42)Spain

Events (43) Polish entrepreneurs get together in Scotland again; (44) Foundation for

Corporate Social Responsibility CEO Breakfast; Food Producers Congress – Opole; (45) Fashion Week Łódź; (46) BPCC Annual Ball; (47) Berlin Aviation Fair; Warsaw Olympic Nights Gala; Macaroni Tomato Warszawa opens mens clothing shop

Details at [email protected] or call +48-22-831-7062

November 2012vol. 4 no. 7(31)

Published by: BiznesPolska Media sp.z o.o.

ul. Długa 44/50, bud. D, lok 704, 00-241 Warszawatel.: 022 831 7062General Manager and Editor:Thom Barnhardt ([email protected])Publisher: Craig Smith ([email protected])Editorial staff and writers:Leon Paczyński, Monika TutakResearch team coordinator:Magda Adamczyk Advertising Sales: tel.: 022 831 706 2mobile 508-143-963Graphic Design: Sławek Parfi anowiczsparfi anowicz.wordpress.com

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Table of Contents

4

November 2012

www.bizpoland.plCover Story

It wasn’t planned this way. And almost no one saw it coming.

Yet growth in the business services sec-tor (alternatively referred to as BPO or outsourcing, and including shared service centers) has outstripped even the most op-timistic forecasts. With total employment of less than 15,000 in 2004, when Poland joined the European Union, the sector now employs nearly 100,000 people – and is set to displace the mighty, politically-power-ful, and union-infested coal mining indus-try, which is expected to shrink to 95,000 jobs in 2013.

Indeed, the world’s crises seem to be a boon to Poland’s outsourcing businesses.

And as the world takes notice of Poland’s potential and performance, the quality of jobs are moving upscale, and the distribution of jobs is spread-

ing throughout the country, particularly north and east.

According to research by ABSL (Association of Business Services Leaders),

38 new service centres and over 20 new investors came to Poland in 2011, with American investors leading the pack. Recent investors include Qatar Airways with a new center in Wroclaw, and Bayer with a new center in Gdansk. Both the cit-ies of Katowice and Szczecin – coy about naming names – have alluded to landing major new service centers in the coming months.

“The global crisis has worked to our benefit by giving us the prospect of fur-ther growth in our industry and the creation of new jobs in Poland”, said

Roadshow’s annual Outsourcing Forum, held in Warsaw, was held together with ma-jor partners ASPIRE and PwC, under the patronage of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Waldemar Pawlak, Marshal Adam Struzik Mazowiecki, and under the patronage of PAIiIZ, the National Chamber of Commerce and PARP.

This year’s guests of honor were: Dariusz Rosati - Member of Parliament, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Janusz Steinhoff - former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of Economy, and Richard Patru - Partner, PwC. All three guests emphasized Poland’s place in the global economy and how it affects the per-ception of further development of Poland’s outsourcing industry.

Workshops addressed issues such as Shared services and outsourcing for Polish firms, public sector outsourcing, and business models of Indians expanding in Poland. Other issues raised including ap-propriate education of students and col-laboration with universities, and building greater industry awareness. ■

BPO sector employment pushes aside mighty CoalPoland’s business services sector, growing quickly,

will eclipse employment numbers in the coal sector by 2013,

with unexpected benefits.

Poland has an ability to gain market share as the EU crisis rumbles on

VII Polish Outsourcing Forum

5

2012 November

www.bizpoland.pl Cover Story

Marek Grodzinski, Vice-President BPO, Capgemini Poland.

While the “American” crisis rattled the world in 2008-2009, the “European” cri-sis is now centre-stage, unsettling capital markets and threatening the very ex-istence of the European Union. Yet as Poland’s outsourcing sector benefited from the American crisis by boosting its employment numbers, it looks set to benefit from the European crisis as well. Certainly not immune to the troubles of its western European neighbors and major trading partners, Poland’s exclusion from the Eurozone - once a source of shame - has now become a source of safety.

American firms were forefront in the period 2009-2011 in their quest to reduce costs. Scouring the globe, many chose to outsource jobs to traditional locations such as India. Yet those with a major European presence have found that Poland’s proxim-ity to western Europe –geographically and culturally – provides an advantage that non-European locations can not provide.

Poland has reached a point where it is able to offer both competitive labor rates and highly-skilled staff capable of carrying out more complex services.

“Major interest in Poland is now com-ing not just from the Global 500, but the

Global 10,000”, said Andrew Hallam, founder of ASPIRE, the association of out-sourcing/shared services investors, based in Krakow. He said that while the growth in recent years has been spectacular, the best is yet to come.

A simple sign tells the story of how hot the sector is: conferences. In September, both ABSL and the ASPIRE-backed Roadshow held major BPO/SSC

Credit Suisse announced in October that it will cut an extra $1.1 billion of costs, including axing more jobs, after its third-quarter net profit more than halved due to losses on the value of its own debt.

Volatile financial markets, a dearth of deals and tighter capital rules in the wake of the 2007-9 financial crisis are forcing investment banks across the world to slash costs, and the euro zone debt crisis has pushed many to cut back even more.

Profits from Credit Suisse’s invest-ment bank rose, helped by a pick up in bond trading that has already been noted by U.S. investment banks and is expected to boost European peers.

However, that was offset by weakness in Credit Suisse’s private banking busi-ness, which caters for wealthy clients.

Credit Suisse said it was targeting 4

billion Swiss francs in cost savings by 2015, up from a goal of 3 billion francs it set in July and an earlier figure of 2 billion.

The bank, which is already cutting 3,500 staff or 7 percent of its workforce, said job losses would be inevitable to achieve the extra savings, but did not say how many more staff would go.

It has already combined the separate operating platforms of its two main units - private banking and investment bank-ing - and will increasingly shift informa-tion technology jobs to Poland and India as part of its cost saving drive, finance chief David Mathers told journalists.

Crosstown rival UBS also announced massive job cuts in October, to protect profits as it withdraws from riskier in-vestment banking areas which soak up large sums of capital. ■

continued on page 6

Credit Suisse to move more IT jobs to Poland

6

November 2012


conferences just one week apart. IOF, the London-based media group, held its annual outsourcing conference in Sopot in October. The City of Katowice weeks ago organized an outsourcing conference. SSON held a conference in Stockholm in mid-October focused on the sector, includ-ing opportunities in central Europe. And Shared Services Week will be held in Berlin in mid-November, with a strong focus on business services in Poland.

“The crisis will probably bring new business to outsourcing companies,” said Marcin Tchórzewski, vice president for Poland of US financial services provider State Street, as western European firms look to reduce employment costs further. The recent massive layoffs announced by UBS in its western European offices will surely mean more UBS jobs in Poland.

Pressure valve of Eastern Poland

As the traditionally-strong outsourc-ing cities such as Krakow and Wroclaw continue to attract new investment and higher value-added jobs, such as finan-cial analysis and mobile technology R&D, smaller Polish cities are keenly aware of

the financial and political advantages of landing new business services investors. Comparable to a pressure valve, cities like Kielce and Lublin are keen to attract jobs that cities like Krakow might now eschew, such as call centres and rote business pro-cesses. And Eastern Poland, a fabricated construction of Poland’s poorest five

voivods, is tapping into substantial sub-sidies from the European Union, whose Regional Development Programme aims to narrow the gap between less-developed regions and their wealthier neighbors.

Mayors of cities in eastern Poland such as Kielce, Bialystok, Rzeszow, Lublin and Olsztyn are aware of the need to support speculative office development, build the

city’s brand and trumpet the potential of their young, well-educated workforce. Different models and shifting sandsFirms such as EDF, with a strong presence in Poland with multiple energy-related subsidiaries, have chosen to outsource “with a twist”. Instead of the traditional establishment of a shared-services centre

serving western Europe or the world, EDF has set up a shared services centre for only its Polish subsidiaries, deftly dodging the potential political fallout of “outsourcing” jobs from France. The emphasis in this model is on operating efficiencies, not la-bor cost savings.

Polish firms are also increasingly aware of the advantages and efficiencies to be

Arena International, the London-based media group, organized its annual European outsourcing conference in Sopot, which was financially supported by the City of Gdansk and InvestGDA. Running over 3 days, the program combined a series of master classes, keynote presentations, panels sessions and roundtables delivered by senior executives from the industry’s most active outsourcers, industry associa-tions, consultants and solution providers, covering all aspects of outsourcing and lo-cation selection.

The aim of this combined format was to provide senior executives with every-thing they need to know about current BPO, ITeS and location options and strate-gies. Participants discussed best practices, networked with peers facing similar chal-lenges and gained insight into both estab-lished and emerging outsourcing suppliers and location alternatives from around the world. ■

continued from page 5

HQs are no longer asking if it can be done in Poland, but rather they are asking

their managers why it can’t be done in Poland”, said one shared services executive

International Outsourcing Forum, Sopot

7

2012 November


gained through consolidation and bun-dling of jobs in one location. While the la-bor cost advantages may be minor, the op-erating efficiencies and reduction of office costs can be significant value drivers. The recent opening in Pila, a relatively small town north of Poznan, of an outsourcing centre for a Polish energy utility is another sign of the growing awareness of the ad-vantages of outsourcing for Polish firms.

And much like Poland is “east” for west-ern Europe, east for Polish firms is eastern Poland and Ukraine, where wages are sub-stantially lower than in major Polish cities. Accounting Plaza, recently acquired, last year set up operations in the Ukrainian city of Lwow, which is attractive to Polish firms since a large percentage of the pop-ulation speaks Polish. And Impel, the Wroclaw-based outsourcing firm, recently announced expansion plans for Ukraine and Russia.

Public-sector outsourcing is virtually non-existent, and presents another op-portunity for growth, as state-owned en-terprises are squeezed between budgetary constraints and a growing awareness that they must improve their return on assets. While the US and UK governments are a major force in outsourcing (everything from real estate management, cleaning,

document management and storage, fi-nance and accounting, and HR/personnel), the Polish government and its various min-istries and departments are just now wak-ing from a long slumber and being forced to consider outsourcing more services.

Indians coming

Another emerging player in Poland’s out-sourcing sector are the Indians. While the Americans’ expansion has been largely

Qatar Airways said it is planning to open a new multi-lingual customer care centre in Poland as the airline continues to open new routes to Europe.

The centre will be based in the Polish city of Wroclaw and will start operating from early next year, the airline said in a statement.

The announcement comes two months ahead of the airline’s new route to the Polish capital Warsaw, set to begin from December 5 with four-flights-a-week direct from the carrier’s Doha hub.

The contact centre will initially be staffed by 100 employees, the statement added.

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said: “As a five-star airline we are committed to providing our customers with a seamless travel experience not only in the air, but at every touch point.

“Following a rigorous search for a suitable

location, we found the city of Wroclaw to be the most suited for our European contact centre in providing excellent customer ser-vice solutions to our customers in the region.

“With our move to Wroclaw, Qatar Airways is making a major investment in the local economy and the creation of jobs which will provide Polish citizens with an exciting opportunity to work for a world-class airline.

“As we continue to grow as a company, so will our new customer contact centre creating even more opportunities,” added Al Baker.

Wroclaw Mayor Rafal Dutkiewicz said: “This is great news for the people and city of Wroclaw and we assure Qatar Airways of providing our full support to make this a highly successful business venture for a world-class airline that will soon be flying to Poland.” ■

continued on page 8

Qatar Airways to open customer care centre in Poland

8

November 2012


driven by cost-reduction and smoother interaction with the European market, Indian firms are coming from the other direction – being driven by their clients to offer services for their European opera-tions. Wipro, a pioneer in the Tricity mar-ket, has blazed the trail for Indian firms, having set up operations several years ago with a focus on IT. Gdansk recently landed WNS, a large Indian client which has plans to set up a F&A centre serving western Europe in multiple European languages, a task nearly impossible to do from Bangalore.

“Many more Indian firms are looking at setting up operations in Poland”, said J.J. Singh, founder of the Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce, which organizes bilateral trade conferences and events between Poland and India each year.

Another advantage for Poland, according to Singh, is that Poles do not need visas to travel around the EU, they are in the same time-zone as western Europe, and share le-gal, linguistic and cultural characteristics with their customers. Indians, for exam-ple, still need visas to enter the Schengen zone, an annoyance that continues to rile

the Indians who are working and traveling frequently to Poland.

From single services to multi-functional

As Poland’s outsourcing sector grows up and matures, global firms are increasingly using Poland as a base for multi-functional business services. Instead of only provid-ing basic accounting services, for examples, firms are shifting more work to Poland, in-cluding HR/compliance, procurement, and real estate asset management.

“Many of the centers are the head-quarters of outsourcing organizations for Europe or the EMEA region”, said Andrew Hallam of ASPIRE.

Indeed in early spring, BNY Mellon, a provider of investment management and investment services, announced plans to open a new Global Delivery Centre in Wrocław, where staff will work in the areas of fund accounting and investment opera-tions. “Poland is a central location within Europe, offering high-quality staff and infrastructure,” said Martin Ring, who is leading the development of BNY Mellon’s operations in Wroclaw.

Another global financial institu-tion, State Street, opened a new office in Kraków in May, adding to the two

locations it already has in the region. It plans to launch its Investment Analytics service later in 2012, and by 2015, the company will recruit nearly 600 profes-sionals, to support its various financial services.

“Poland has become a key European lo-cation for fund accounting, securities valu-ation, exchange traded derivatives and hedge fund administration,” said Joseph Antonellis, who is vice chairman of State Street and leads all Europe and Asia-Pacific Global Services and Global Markets.

Poland as a top European shoring destination

2011 saw Poland strengthening its posi-tion as a leading global shoring destina-tion. It was named by Everest as the most mature offshoring location in Europe and one of the Top 5 worldwide. Poland is the world’s “Offices in smaller cities attract IT outsourcing - FT.com” third most popular shared services location after India and China, according to KPMG. Also Hackett Group identified Poland as one of the most interesting offshoring venues for interna-tional investors and Kraków was ranked 11th globally in the TOP 100 outsourcing destinations by Tholons. Poland currently accounts for 40% of the total headcount in

The 3rd ABSL Conference took place in September in Sopot, and attracted more than 350 representatives of the leading SSC, BPO, ITO, and R&D companies, the government, local authorities, as well as companies supporting the growth of the sector. Conference Special Guests included such renowned personalities such as:Lech Wałęsa, former President of Poland,

Nobel Prize WinnerJerzy Buzek, former Prime Minister of

Poland, President of the European Parliament in 2009-2012

Tomasz Arabski, Head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Chief of Permanent Committee of the Council of Ministers

Paweł Orłowski, Undersecretary of State, Ministry of Regional Development

Numerous representatives of local au-thorities attended the event. Mayors of Bydgoszcz, Białystok, Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Poznań and Radom took part in a panel discussion dedicated to the co-operation between local authorities and investors.

Also numerous panel discussions, case study presentations and workshop ses-sions devoted to such topics as outsourc-ing and offshoring trends, journalists’

views of the sector, Business Intelligence and Big Data, LEAN management, and attitudes of Generation Y towards the workplace. ■


ABSL Conference, Sopot

9

2012 November


outsourcing centres in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

“Business Process Outsourcing and Shared Service Centres account for most of the projects of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ). 30 out of 149 investors we currently work with in Poland represent the offshoring busi-ness which is an equivalent of over 7700 potential new work places.” said Slawomir Majman, President of PAIZ.

In respect of headcount, PAIZ estimates that 45% of the existing “outsourcing” centres in Poland are Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centres and IT out-sourcing centres (ITO), followed by Shared Service Centres SSC (35%) and Research and Development centres R&D (20%). Most typical processes executed by Poland-based

outsourcing centres are finance and ac-counting, IT as well as research.

The predominant countries of origin are those within the European Union (France, Germany, UK, Sweden, and the Netherlands) as well as the United States. The sector gives employment to univer-sity graduates and students with fluent English, German, French, Italian and Spanish as well as other less popular for-eign languages such as Danish, Swedish,

Norwegian, and Dutch amongst other. Services are delivered in a total of 34 dif-ferent languages with a typical employee being 29-30 years old with approximately 3 years of professional experience. This is unlike only a couple of years ago when SSC and BPO/ ITO centres were recruit-ing mainly new graduates. Interestingly,

employers are increasingly competing for a talent pool who are not only experts in areas of specialization such as IT but also have a general knowledge about the sector the company is active in.

The dominant three markets in respect of headcount in the services sector are Warsaw, Kraków and Wroclaw with SSC and BPO/ ITO staff respectively of 20,000, 10,000 and 10,000. In addition, Tri-City and Poznan are also recently receiving a lot of interest from BPO/ ITO and SSC inves-tors. McKinsey & Company and Samsung invested in Poznan in 2011 while Bayer, OIE Support and Metsa Group have all commit-ted to the Tri-City market, as well as the recently announced Indian firm WNS. The seven biggest Polish agglomerations i.e. Warsaw, Kraków, Wroclaw, Lódz, Silesia, Tri-City and Poznan have about 80% of all service centres in Poland, driven by strong universities and higher-education centres, and a reasonably wide availability of office space, albeit differences exist between par-ticular markets.

“This is the sector with potentially Poland’s biggest employment growth,” says Jacek Levernes, head of the Association of Business Service Leaders in Poland, one of two groups representing the shared office and outsourcing industry. ■

The shift in perception of Poland is significant as more multinationals

open centres here.

10

November 2012

www.bizpoland.plEU Budget

EUROPEAN diplomats are

pushing to secure a swift deal

on the bloc’s next seven-

year budget, believing a Nov.

22-23 summit offers the best

chance of agreement - saying

the need to solve bigger is-

sues may work to defuse the

political challenges.

At stake is nearly €1 trillion of investment between 2014-2020 in infrastructure proj-ects, agriculture and research, designed to help spur the economic growth Europe needs to emerge from its debt crisis.

The desire to reach agreement at a sin-gle summit appears at odds with recent shadow boxing by EU governments, with British Prime Minister David Cameron publicly threatening to veto a deal if his demands are not met.

It would also buck an EU trend for long-drawn-out talks over the multi-year bud-get, which in the past has required at least two summits to get the unanimous agree-ment needed.

“Differences between EU member states seem to be so big that the negotiations would last much longer than currently expected,” said Carsten Brzeski, senior European economist at ING bank.

But with euro zone countries keen to focus their efforts on crisis response mea-sures, and with poorer EU countries wary of any delays to the new spending plan, diplomats insist that a one-shot deal is possible and remains the best option.

“The best chance for a deal at the November summit is the fact that, for many member states, they have bigger fish to fry,” said one EU diplomat involved in the discussions.

Even British officials have talked up the chances of a November deal, despite the government’s political posturing.

Cameron goes into the talks in a rela-tively strong position, with one of his main priorities - keeping hold of the country’s rebate - assured if no deal is reached.

He also has strong allies in Germany, Finland and the Netherlands, among oth-ers, in his bid to cut the overall level of EU spending proposed by the European Commission last year.

London is calling for the deepest cuts, but if offered a deal that safeguards its multi-billion euro rebate and cuts some 100 bil-lion euros from the total, Cameron could see a chance to win back some EU goodwill for little pain.

If no deal is struck, the EU’s 2013 budget would roll over with an automatic 2 percent in-crease based on inflation, which should act as an extra incentive for net contributors such as Britain and Germany to reach a compromise. That means that if Britain vetoes a deal, it could end up paying more than it wants.

“The UK may have to take a little water with its wine, but November could be the best chance for a good deal, because they’re not necessarily going to get a better one if they wait,” said another EU diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Others believe Cameron risks painting himself into a corner with his talk of a veto and needs a longer-term vision.

“If the UK is going to play the hard line it has said it would play, then I think there is very little scope to find a compromise which works for everyone,” said Fabian Zuleeg, chief economist at Brussels think tank the European Policy Centre.

“If the UK is purely looking at how things play in the British media and with Tory back-benchers, it becomes very difficult to find a compromise here in Brussels.”

While Britain was described by one senior EU official as the biggest problem in the bud-get talks, it is far from being the only one.

Sweden, a net contributor to the EU and which has long called for reform of the com-mon agricultural policy, is also expected to play hardball.

“We have made clear that we believe a freeze in real terms is what should happen given that it has not been possible to achieve a modernization or any major change in the budget.” Sweden’s Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told reporters on Tuesday.

Poland

Poland, Hungary and other EU members from the former Soviet bloc, set to benefit most from the spending plans, are opposed to any cuts, and each carries its own veto in the talks.

The European Parliament could also use the power granted to it under the 2009 Lisbon Treaty to vote down any deal reached by EU governments if its calls for increased funds are ignored.

Around one-third of EU funds to be al-located to Poland under the 2014-2020 budget will be used to implement trans-port investment projects, said Elzbieta Bienkowska, Minister for Regional Development.

Bienkowska believes that the funds will be used to carry out railway, road and airport construction projects, with the bulk of spending to be on railroad projects. The funds will be also used to fund the construction of expressways. According to the National Development Strategy adopted by the government, Poland should have 2,800 km of express-ways by 2020. Currently, there are 900 km of this type of roads in Poland, so 1,900 km will need to be built in the next eight years.

Source: Independent.ie

Push for EU budget deal ahead of November summit

11

2012 November

www.bizpoland.pl Equities

Investors seeking broad exposure to the Polish equity market might find EPOL an interesting pick. Launched in May 2010, the fund seeks to match the price and yield of the MSCI Poland Investable Market Index, before fees and expenses.

The product focuses largely on the large cap segment of the Polish market and holds 45 securities in its basket. The ma-jority of holdings are classified as blend stocks from a style perspective. The fund is heavily concentrated in its top 10 hold-ings with nearly 69% of its total assets. The top three companies combined make up for nearly 34% of its portfolio.

From a sector perspective, the product has a certain tilt towards the financial sec-tor making up 42% of the ETF. Materials, energy, utilities and telecommunication services comprise the next four major sec-tors, with a combined 47% share.

With Assets Under Management of $140.7 million, the product charges 59 bps in fees per year to investors. Volume is

Poland’s Biggest Winners and Losers on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (year-to-date 2012):

Top 10

Name 2 Ja

n.10

12

30 O

ct.

2012

chan

ge

(%)

Notes

HERKULES 0.37 1.29 248.65 This crane operator bounced back from lows, but on low volume. The fi rm has expanded its operations from supporting construction fi rms to the fast-growing wind energy sector, which requires cranes to erect their wind turbines.

BEST 13.73 35 154.92 BEST S.A. is one of the leading debt collection companies within the Polish fi nancial services market and an expert in the fi eld of charge-off debt services. The company recovers debt portfolios and off ers debt recovery services, which are particularly suitable for large-scale operating banks, fi nancial institutions and telecommunication companies. The fi rm’s strong share performance in 2012 may be a contrarian indicator for Poland’s economy in 2013.

KREZUS 6.12 15.5 153.27 A play on gold and coff ee. NFI Krezus S.A. owns eCoff ee sp. z o.o. (100% owned) and 50% of Gold Investments sp. z o.o.. Based in Toruń, the company manages ELIZA jewelry shops, off ering a wide range of jewelry articles of gold, silver, jewels as well as brand watches, jewelry accessories and imitation jewelry.

GRAAL 5.69 12.65 122.32 Poland’s largest producer of canned fi sh products. Graal has been on the market since 1989. Through 8 subsidiary companies, Graal sells tinned fi sh, tinned meat, smoked fi sh, sea food, caviars, frozen fi sh, pickles, salinity, fi sh salads, vegetable salads and ready dishes.

ZPUE 115.5 240 107.79 ZPUE S.A. produces equipment for cable lines and overhead power lines such as: container transformer stations, MV switchgears, LV switchgears, pole transformer stations and apparatus for overhead power lines, which is used in secondary distribution in power distribution companies and industrial plants in Poland, Europe and the world. The company provies power engineering installations in new, modernized and renovated power plants.

IMC 8.1 16.43 102.84 Industrial Milk Company is an integrated agricultural company in Ukraine. In May 2011 IMC did its IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. In addition to the company’s main operational activites (cultivation of grain & oilseeds crops, potato production, dairy farming, storage and processing of grain & oilseeds crops), IMC is large owner of agricultural land in Ukraine, and is among Ukraine’s top-10 industrial milk producers.

EMCINSMED 7.05 14.09 99.86 EMC Instytut Medyczny is subject to a takeover or major investment by EQT VI Limited fund. EMC is Poland’s largest owner of hospitals and clinics on the private healthcare market. Within 10 years the company has grown from a local company managing a hospital in Wroclaw into a network of medical facilities, expanding consistently throughout Polish and abroad as well.

WIELTON 2.34 4.65 98.72 Wielton is Poland’s biggest semi-trailers and trailers producer, and one of the 10 leading producers in Europe. Its customers consist of polish transportation, construction, production, agriculture and distribution companies, also foreign vehicle and semi-trailers dealers, especially from: Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania and the European Union.

LPP 2019.5 3953.5 95.77 Based in Gdansk, LPP designs and distributes clothing under its own brands. Design is done in Gdansk, with all produc-tion outsourced to the Far East under the strict control of the LPP’s Shanghai offi ce. Brands include RESERVED, CROPP, PROMOSTARS,HOUSE, and MOHITO.

ENERGOINS 6.24 12.14 94.55 Energo Instal is one of the largest manufacturers of power boilers in Poland, and one of fi ve manufacturers of fi nned tubes in Europe, which are basic elements of heat recovery steam generators and heat exchangers. Finned tubes are used in the largest heat recovery steam generators in Europe built by Energoinstal. The European Union is the largest market for their products and services, with Germany being the biggest.

Worst 10

Name 2 Ja

n.10

12

30 O

ct.

2012

chan

ge

(%)

Notes

HBPOLSKA 0.75 0.02 -97.33 Construction fi rm fi led bankruptcy notice. Was involved in stadium construction.

ALTERCO 43 2.11 -95.09 Real investment and management fund. Involved in takeover of Reinhold real estate group. Disputes with sharehold-ers and banks has torpedoed the stock.

PBG 73 4.84 -93.37 Construction fi rm fi led bankruptcy notice. Was involved in stadium construction.

ABMSOLID 1.7 0.13 -92.35 This construction fi rm fi led for bankruptcy in summer 2012. The fi ling is a “restructuring”, not a liquidation.

BOMI 2.26 0.24 -89.38 Bomi operates a chain of delicatessens/retail food shops. Heavy debt load and weak operational results have hurt the share’s performance. Subject to either liquidation or take-over in 2013.

INTAKUS 1.4 0.15 -89.29 INTAKUS Group is a general contractor, invovled in construction of multi- and single-family homes, industrial buildings, and general buildings. Firm also does building design work, leases cranes and specialist equipment.

ONE2ONE 2.25 0.25 -88.89 Mobile media and marketing services, operating under brands such as Mobi!Joy.

IDMSA 1.3 0.21 -83.85 One of Poland’s largest brokerage fi rms, also with an asset management division, IDM has been hurt by general slowdown in IPO listings on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

DSS 7.4 1.21 -83.65 DSS, whose largest subsidiary is Dolnośląskie Surowce Skalne S.A., is the biggest domestic producer of aggregate materi-als for infrastucture projects, such as highway construction. Firm supplies asphalt and cement from its own rockmines.

EUROMARK 1.16 0.2 -82.76 Euromark Polska S.A. is the leader of the Polish outdoor market. It is a designer and distributor of outdoor clothing, footwear and equipment. Euromark Polska S.A. sells its products through a full spectrum of distribution channels from wholesale to retail.

Poland’s Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) give foreign investors easy access to Polish market

continued on page 12

Key Indices for Poland (10 months ended Oct 2012):

WIG 15%WIG 80 15.60%New Connect Index -15%Market Vectors Poland ETF (NYSE) 19%

12

November 2012

www.bizpoland.plEquities/Entrepreneurs

In late October, Sir Richard Branson, one of the world’s top entrepreneurs, vis-ited Warsaw and inspired students at the University of Warsaw, with tales of multiple successes disrupting established indus-tries. His visit is part of a new University program to encourage entrepreneurship among youth.

The British billionaire and Virgin Group owner told students, who had packed into a hall at Warsaw University, that they need to be “passionate about whatever you are doing in life” to achieve success. Branson met with students on his first visit to Poland on Wednesday, where he came to launch Virgin Academy, which

will help young people kick start their own businesses.

Branson, said to be worth an estimated 4.2 billion USD, started a vinyl record business in the early 1970s, and after the setting up the Virgin record label, he gradually expanded into other areas, including airlines, train trav-el, telecommunications and insurance.

This year Branson launched his Virgin Mobile brand in Poland, operating on the P4 network.

In separate comments, he said that his space tourism project keeps being pushed back and isn’t sure of an exact date for the first launch. He says it will be at least another 12 or 18 months before the Virgin Galactic venture can offer paid space travel to adven-turers. Asked about Virgin Galactic, Branson said he has “stopped counting” days to the launch because it gets delayed “to the next year, to the next year.”

More than 100 would-be space tourists have signed up for the $200,000 two-hour trips that go 100 kilometers above Earth.

The 62 year-old entrepreneur has also launched a new book this year, Like a Virgin, which, he says, “will reveal secrets they won’t teach you at business school”. ■

quite good, trading in more than 70,000 shares per day on average, suggesting a tight bid-ask spread. The ETF has gener-ated outstanding returns of over 28% so far in the year (as of October 16) and yields an impressive annual dividend of 4.83%.

Market Vectors Poland ETF (NYSE:PLND)

Launched in November 2009, the fund tracks the Market Vectors Poland Index, which consists of 25 companies that are either headquartered in Poland or produce at least 50% of their revenues from the nation.

The fund holds 30 securities in its bas-ket, with a heavy focus on the top 10 hold-ings that account for about 60% of the as-sets. The top three companies dominate more than 24% of the holdings. Though the product puts more focus on large cap stocks, mid cap takes 22% share with only 1% going to small caps.

In terms of holdings, financials consists of more than one-third of the holdings fol-lowed by double-digit weightings in ma-terials (16%), energy (16%), and utilities

(12%). The ETF has total assets of $32.5 mil-lion and sees a moderately good volume of about 13,000 shares per day.

The product lags EPOL by a single basis point in terms of fees. PLND has generated excellent returns of nearly 25% year-to-date (as of October 16) and yields a good dividend of 3.60% annually. This suggests that investors have a decent long-term choice on their hands in this Poland ETF.

Provided below is the summary of the two Polish ETFs:

EPOL PLND

Inception Date 05/25/2010 11/24/2009

IndexMSCI Poland Investable Market Index

Market Vectors Poland Index

AUM (in millions) $140.7 $32.5

No. of Holdings 45 30

% of assets in Top 10 Holdings 68.83% 60.13%

Expense Ratio 0.59% 0.60%

YTD Return (as of October 16) 28.13% 24.62%

Dividend Yield 4.83% 3.60%

Sir Branson inspires Warsaw


13

2012 November

www.bizpoland.pl Entrepreneurs

Arguably Poland’s most am-

bitious real estate develop-

ment project, Chopin Airport

City aims to be the first proj-

ect of its kind carried out in

Poland, reflecting the world-

wide trend of building small

airport towns with commer-

cial functions. The new office

and retail complex is located

in Warsaw right next to the

country’s largest airport.

Developed by ‘Polish Airports’ State Enterprise (PPL), plans are that in the next ten years the area located in the south of Warsaw, along the main access road to Chopin Airport, will be transformed into a

modern business park with recreation and entertainment facilities.

According to Michał Marzec, prezes of PPL, plans are for 17 buildings and a total of 170,000 square meters of space. The project will be developed in stages, with the first stage to develop three buildings.

PPL is looking for development and in-vestment partners, and plans are that the complex may have several SPVs allowing PPL to include multiple development partners.

ARUP and CBRE are consultants on the project.

Marzec said that such development proj-ects are a “second leg of PPL’s activities”

and expands the firm’s “non-aeronautical revenues”.

The Chopin Airport City complex will include high standard office buildings, a conference centre with one of the largest halls in Warsaw as well as Premium class hotels and recreation facilities surrounded by a park with greenery and ponds.

The project also includes fitness clubs and restaurants. In the middle of Chopin Airport City there will be a roofed passage-way comfortably connecting the buildings.

Fast-growing airport supports the offi ce development concept

The key selling point of the Chopin Airport City project is that it is adjacent to Chopin Airport – the biggest airport in Poland. At present the annual capacity of the airport is approximately 15 million pas-sengers. Once the development projects scheduled to 2015 are executed, it will be able to serve around 22 million passen-gers a year. In 2011 the airport handled

9,3 million passengers, 36% of whom were business clients. As of winter 2011/12, the airport serves 77 destinations in 38 coun-tries. Currently 27 airlines operate regu-larly from Chopin Airport. The airport is also a regional hub for cargo transport. In 2011 the airport reached its record high of 46,000 tonnes of freight handled.

Sustainable development

From its beginning the idea of the Chopin Airport City project is to balance an en-vironmental and community-oriented approach with business functions. The site will be comfortably linked with the

city centre (urban railroad, buses, taxis). Limiting vehicle traffic in favor of walk-ways will allow for developing the area in a work- and leisure-friendly fashion. Chopin Airport City will have low-rise buildings surrounded by greenery and ponds and a centrally located square with recreational services, galleries and restaurants avail-able for business people, tourists and cli-ents of the airport.

Hotels

More hotels are coming to the airport area, following on the commercial success of the four-star Courtyard by Marriott hotel. In 2013 two more hotels will open: the five-star Renaissance Hotel, on the premises of Chopin Airport City, and the two-star Hampton Hotel by Hilton, locat-ed nearby.

Mazur said that PPL would like to fi-nalize deals with potential partners by September/October 2013, and start initial construction at the beginning of 2014. ■

Chopin Airport City in fi gures

• Total area– 22,5 ha • Gross covered area – 13,27 ha • Number of office buildings with

additional functions - 17 • Usable floor space of the buildings

– over 170 000 sq m • Height of buildings – 25 - 40 m (6-8

storeys) • Storey area - between 1 800 – 2 000

sq m • Parking spaces - at least 1 space per

50 sq m of area leased

Chopin Airport City

14

November 2012

www.bizpoland.plFood Exports

Billed as the largest food

expo in the world, this year’s

edition of SIAL attracted

more than 120,000 profession-

al visitors from 200 countries,

and 6,000 exhibitors from 100

countries.

Highlights this year included SIAL Innovation, the most popular observatory that attracts 75 percent of attendees look-ing for pioneering and trendsetting prod-ucts. The SIAL d’Or also awarded the most innovative products in 29 countries that became a commercial success in the last year.

Poland’s food export sector turned out in large numbers, as SIAL (and the

alternating ANUGA) is clearly the most important food expo for Polish producers.

Poland’s agricultural exports are gain-ing market share on global markets, as consumers increase their consumption of Polish fish, apples, chicken, beef, beer – and even candy.

Agriculture Minister Stanisław Kalemba recently announced that Poland’s “food ex-port surplus in 2012 will exceed €3 billion.”

Agencja Rynku Rolnego Agro-Handel sp. z o.o. Agros Trading Confectionery Agus Ajinomoto Poland sp. z o.o. A-Meat sp. z o.o. Apis Apiary Cooperative Artifex As Babuni Avalon Foods sp. z o.o. Aves Balviten Bartex sp. z o.o. Best Foods Biernacki - Meat Plant

Big Brands Group Biofl uid sp.j. Brand Distribution Poland Ltd sp. z o.o. sp.k Browar Jagiełło Cisowianka Contractus sp. z o.o. Dawtona District Cooperative Dairy Plant in Łowicz Drosed Duda Polish Meat Concern Eastern Poland Eko-Vit sp. z o.o. Eltar Tesna Elżbieta Expo Line sp. z o.o. Foodcare

Food From Poland Fischer Trading Group Ltd. Food Service sp. z o.o. Frigo Logistics sp. z o.o. Fructofresh Group sp. z o.o. sp.k. Good Food Products sp. z o.o. Graal SA Grana sp. z o.o. Greek Trade Ltd Grupa Tarczynski SA Handel Healthy Food Production SA Herbapol-Lublin SA Hortino Ichem sp. z o.o. Iko Kompania Drobiarska Indykpol Sa Instanta sp. z o.o. Interfood Polska sp. z o.o.

Polish Exhibitors at SIAL 2012

SIAL Paris Food Expo pulls in 120,000 visitors

15

2012 November

www.bizpoland.pl Food Exports

Export revenue from Polish food will be greater than reach €16 billion in 2012, pre-dicted the Minister. The poultry sector re-cords the greatest surplus, putting Poland in third position across Europe. “When it comes to production of apples – we are number one,” said Minister Kalemba.

Poland’s EU membership has been a bo-nanza for Poland’s food exporters. A com-bination of open western-European mar-kets and subsidies to modernize Poland’s agricultural sector has moved Poland from a net food importer to a net exporter since its EU accession in 2004.

Food exports in 2012 will have grown 300% over the previous 8 years.

Polish food producers and farmers have parlayed their natural advantages - of low-er production costs – and added a dash of focused marketing and sales to win major food supply contracts. Initially focused on the wealthier western European market, Polish firms see increasing opportunities in eastern markets including Russia, as well as the Middle East and east Asia.

Honey and jam producers have found new markets in Dubai, niche pork prod-ucts are being exported to South Korea, and Polish milk and vegetables are sold in shops in London.

The mix of exported products has changed over the last 7 years

distinctively, as meat and meat products have become the number one exported food product sector, representing 21.3%. Live animal export has decreased sub-stantially, as exporters have shifted to higher value-add food production and processing, with its commensurate high-er margins.

The “sin” products – alcohol, tobacco and cigarettes – have carved out a strong sec-ond position, and represent more than 12% of all Polish food exports in 2011, up from just 3.9% in 2004. Polish beer, niche vodka products and Polish-processed cigarettes are increasingly consumed in cities such as Berlin, Barcelona, and Dublin. ■

Kasol Koliber sp.j. Konspol Holding Krakowski Kredens Tradycja Galicyjska SA Krynica Vitamin sp. z o.o. Kupiec sp. z o.o.. Lactex Lactima Ltd Lmeat-Luków LST - Polska Lubawa (POW Robert Kowalkowski) Lukosz Polish Poultry Meat Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Mitmar sp. z o.o. Mlekoma Mlekovita Mlekpol in Grajewo – Dairy Cooperative Mokate

Nero Ltd Nord Capital Octim Oshee Polska sp. z o.o. Paula PB Group – Premium Beverages sp. z o.o. PekPol – Ostroleka SA Pepees JSC Perła - Browary Lubelskie SA PHU “Unico” Pifo Eko Strefa Pini Polonia sp. z o.o., Hungary Meat Kft, Bresaol Polagro Trade sp. z o.o. Polan sp. z o.o. Polder sp. z o.o. Polexpo Exhibitions Polmlek Group

Poradnik Handlowca PPH Maxpol sp. z o.o. PPHU Karol PUH Pilot Polska sp. z o.o. PW Mat Rene Coff ee Pads Run Chłodnia we Włocławku sp. z o.o. Rzeszowskie Zakłady Drobiarskie Res-Drob Sante A. Kowalski sp.j. Sertop sp. z o.o. Sery ICC Pasłęk Spomet - Bergen Stovit Group Tan-Viet International SA The Kutno Poultry Processing Plant The National Poultry Council – Chamber of Commerce (KRD-IG)

16

November 2012

www.bizpoland.plReal Estate

Cities and voivods such as Warmia and Mazury, Lublin, Podlasie and Świętokrzyskie, Białystok, Kielce, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Łomża, Krosno, Tarnobrzeg, Lublin, Olsztyn, Gołdap and Suwalki Special Economic Zone had representatives in Munich. And larger cities such as Warsaw, Katowice, and many cities from Slask at-tended, yet Gdansk, Poznan, Wroclaw, and Szczecin did not exhibit this year.

A discernible trend at Expo Real is the strong focus on investment in larger, liq-uid, core markets perceived as “safe ha-vens”. Brokerage firm CBRE said real estate

investors are displaying greater caution, which is leading to constrained activity in increasingly polarized real estate markets in Europe.

Investment activity contracted sharply in Central and Eastern European markets in H1 2012, falling by over half compared with the previous six months, and the fo-cus has narrowed to concentrate on Poland and the Czech Republic, yet figures show that Poland is a top performer with overall commercial property investment volumes worth €1.1 billion in the first three quar-ters of this year.

Polish companies from the real estate sector and Polish municipalities believe in showing strong presence at Expo Real. Last year Polish entities were the second most numerous group of exhibitors from abroad, with 45 exhibitors, behind Austria with 67 and ahead of the Netherlands with 44. This year 55 companies and entities from Poland set up stands at the fair, in-cluding the Military Property Agency.

Przemyslaw Felicki, Associate Director, Capital Markets at CBRE Poland:

“Investors are still showing unfaltering interest in the Polish market and are eager to be present here. Even though transaction volumes are lower than last year and the processes are taking far longer than in the past, not least because securing financing has been a challenge, there are a number of large transactions in progress. For example the sale of the Warsaw Financial Centre of-fice building by CA Immo and Pramerica Real Estate Investors is expected to be

Poland makes a strong showing at Expo Real in MunichWhile many Polish cities turned out in large numbers for

the annual Expo Real Commercial Property fair, an equal

number of cities were noticeably absent, suggesting that the

investment mood – or state of city budgets – is weaker than

one year ago.

17

2012 November

www.bizpoland.pl Real Estate

finalized by the end of this year. The value of this transaction is estimated at €210 mil-lion. Other ongoing transactions include the sale of Platinium Business Park or of the renowned Manufaktura shopping centre in Lodz, which is expected to go for a reported €400 million. Poland is being targeted by in-vestors not only in the retail and office real estate sectors. The logistics sector is also at-tracting capital and there have been some huge transactions this year such as the one between Prologis and Hines worth €96 mil-lion with more expected to close this year. All in all the property investment market in Poland is expected to reach the value of €2 billion by the end of 2012.”

While investors have been hesitant in the eurozone markets, they have been more active in the UK and Scandinavia. London accounted for 20% of European investment transactions in H1 2012 and attracted almost half of the global capital flowing into European markets from out-side the region. Its size and pull coupled with the high quality of London’s commer-cial real estate is obviously still a magnet for money from around the world. The Nordic markets increased their share of the European investment market from 14% in 2011 to 18% in H1 2012.

Southern Europe is faring particularly badly - the share of the five euro periph-ery markets (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Ireland) in total turnover in H1 2012 fell to 4.9%, compared with 13% in 2008-09. While prime yields in stronger markets remain relatively stable, yields in southern Europe are particularly weak. Elsewhere, for example in the Netherlands and the UK regions, returns are also feeble. At a sector level, prime High Street retail shows the most resilient performance, while prime office and industrial capital values have slipped back into negative territory in terms of annual changes at the European level.

Felicki added:“Both trans-regional capital flows and

spezialfonds activity are a distinct trend on the Polish market. Spezialfonds are active in Warsaw where they are purchasing top quality core assets in prime locations, such as the purchase of the Renaissance office building by Euro GLL or of Norway House by IVG, both in the centre of Warsaw. The value of such transactions rarely exceeds €50 million. Poland is also seeing its fair share of trans-regional investors with both Blackstone and Hines active on the Polish market. In the past year Blackstone has purchased a number of promising regional shopping centres with a view to adding value to those assets.” ■

18

November 2012

www.bizpoland.plLegal

Tom Dierick is angry.

Very angry.

Stonewalled by Polish prosecutors, who have so far refused to prosecute his case, he is using a combination of TV crews, me-dia, letters to Parliament, and relentless persistence to “right the wrongs”.

While his case is uniquely captivating, his cause has broader relevance for foreign business people who are fed up with the bureaucracy of the Polish justice system – often scornfully referred to as the Polish “justification” system.

His story starts not long ago, when back in March 2012 he met a man named Aleksander Kowalczyk, who represented a company called KREODESIGN Sp. z o.o. in Wroclaw. Dierick is in the business of plas-tic granulates, and Kowalczyk had a deal to help him buy 100 tons of these raw ma-terials necessary for the plastic injection process. And this would be just the first of several deals to come, which would lead to a full 1200 tons of imported materials.

But it did not go as agreed.To get the much lower-priced raw

materials, Kowalczyk required prepay-ment. As was agreed between Dierick and Kowalczyk, the money would be used to pay for the first 100 tons of PolyPropylene from Saudi Arabian firm SABIC. KREODESIGN issued a pro-format VAT in April, and Dierick, via his company M&A Cefta, transferred 142,000 Euro to the ac-count of KREODESIGN.

The unusual deal, which offered cost savings of at least 20%, hinged on a bar-ter relationship between the Russian and Saudi governments. Or at least so said Pawel Szpilski, who was introduced to or-chestrate the deal. Immediately after pay-ment, Kowalczyk assured Dierick that the 100 tons had been ordered and were due to arrive in Poland. “Then there were delays”, said Dierick, “but for a couple of weeks Kowalczyk continued to confirm that “the trucks are on the way”. I started to get nervous, but understood that there could be delays, and that it was still possible that the trucks would finally come”.

Then he got the letter.On May 14th, a registered letter arrived

from KREODESIGN, represented by prezes Rafal Dusza, whom Dierick had never met and never heard of, stating that 200ts was

ordered, instead of 100ts, and thus the firm had only received payment for 50% of the order, and that the delivery would not be made until payment was made in full. When asked to return the money in that case, Kowalczyk replied that unfortunately the money was sent to a German intermedi-ary company, of whom he kept the identity secret, and that the German intermediary does not want to return the money. So no money back, and no products delivered.

Dierick went immediately to the pros-ecutor’s office in Warsaw, which within 3 days (18 May) issued a statement that the case was “umorzony”, i.e. not a criminal case but a civil case, and that therefore he would not pursue it further. So Dierick ap-pealed to the court to insist that the case had validity, and after 4 months the court finally decided that he was right and de-manded the prosecutor to take the case.

However during these four months Dierick had applied as well to the pros-ecutor in Wroclaw, and the case had been “tossed” there from one prosecutor to an-other, and then to a third, yet finally sent back to the first prosecutor, who finally gave it to the police to investigate.

In an unusual quirk of circumstance, that two prosecutors have to take on the case caused another wrinkle. Only one can pursue the case. So a separate court is now considering which prosecutor’s office has jurisdiction over the case. And so again the case is on hold and slowed by bureaucracy.

And that’s where the case is now – officially.

But unofficially, the case is being pros-ecuted, not by Polish prosecutors, but by Tom Dierick himself, with the help of some journalists.

And what Dierick has discovered is astounding.

Kowalczyk in fact owns only 1% of KREODESIGN, and is only the “prokurent” for the company. He has no board position and therefore no potential personal li-ability. KREODESIGN’s president and 99% shareholder is Rafal Dusza, a physical work-er at glass factory “Pan Sklarz” in Wroclaw.

Dusza, who was greeted last week by a TVN television crew after his shift, said that he and Kowalczyk had taken out 100,000 Euro from the KREODESIGN bank account, which required his presence to sign as “prezes” of the company - but “the money went directly into Kowalczyk’s

pocket”. When asked by reporters about the registered letter, he said that Kowalczyk wrote it, and he signed it without reading it, trusting that Kowalczyk would know what documents need to be prepared and signed. According to Dierick, Dusza was only a „front man” for the company.

The plot thickens. After a few months of investigative work Dierick finally discovered the identity of the mysterious German inter-mediary, “KOHLER Biotechnology GmbH”, whose president is Tomasz Niedziela – “an-other frontman”, says Dierick - and prokurent is Norbert Westphal, with an official compa-ny address in an apartment in Berlin where Mr. Westphal lives with his family. In later statements to the police and to journalists, Kowalczyk confirmed that KOHLER was supposed to purchase the 1200 tons, with a total value of 1.380.000 EUR, directly from SABIC Turkey. When Dierick however in-vestigated this claim with the SABIC organi-zation, it turns out that nobody within the SABIC organization had ever heard of Mr. Westphal or KOHLER. On 28 August, after nearly one year of existence, Kohler GmbH filed for liquidation in Germany.

Dierick’s relentless pursuit has led to ar-ticles in two Polish newspapers, including Gazeta Wroclawska, one Belgian newspa-per “De Standaard” - and TVN’s program “SuperWizjer” has sent a TV crew to follow the case, with broadcast on TVN scheduled for 13th November. Several journalists continue to follow the case, and controversy grows sur-rounding Kowalczyk and Szpilski, who reput-edly has very good contacts both within the Wroclaw police and prosecutor department, being a former Belarusian KGB agent, accord-ing to local journalists. According to Dierick, Kowalczyk has been convicted several times in his life for fraud, has spent time in prison, and presents himself to potential business partners via at least 5 different companies, in which in none of them does he own more than 1% of the shares. He also does not hold a board position, and thus does not bare any responsibility under Polish law.

Continuing in his quest for resolution, Dierick made an official request for interpel-lation in the Polish Parliament for a faster and more efficient operation by the Polish prosecutor’s office. He compares it with the recent AmberGold scandal, in which the prosecutors, regulators and politicians failed to act until the case finally reached the media headlines. ■

Belgian fi ghts to recover swindled 142,000 Euro

19

2012 November

www.bizpoland.pl Energy

The Polish Government is

under pressure from Brussels

to enact the legislative means

to meet the green energy

target for Poland for 2020

under the EU Directive.

Randy M. Mott

One of the three main pillars to meet the EU requirement is biogas, which the Government promised to Brussels would reach 980 MW of capacity by 2020 (from about 125 MW in 2011). The EU broadly de-fines what biomass can be used to produce biogas and qualify as green energy under the Directive. Unfortunately the Polish Government is proposing a very restrictive and weak biogas program which has re-ceived little industry input and obviously is being prepared without much thought for the details.

The renewable energy system is support-ed by green certificates which are used to provide a bonus to producers of green ener-gy and increase the cost of electricity by a tiny amount (less than a grosz per kilowatt hour). While a minor burden on electricity purchasers, the green certificates are the mainstay of the support system necessary for the interim future to allow the energy sources in Poland to diversify. Such a pro-gram is required by EU law, but also can add to Poland’s energy mix from domestic sources to improve energy security. Biogas from waste also solves other problems in addition to providing a new energy source.

The EU definitions include a broad range of biomass as possible feedstock for biogas, including organic wastes from industry, households and restaurants. The Polish proposal sharply discriminates against organic waste, providing only half the gov-ernment support in green certificate val-ues. The draft is written entirely from the prospective that Poland will build biogas plants only on farms and that only farm material will be used for biogas. Only 28 such plants have been built in Poland in the last ten years and it is unrealistic to as-sume that this is the only biogas useful to Poland or that these farm plants will allow Poland to meet its 980 MW of biogas output

committed to the EU by 2020. In fact, most of the current “agricultural biogas” plants in Poland also use vegetable processing and other organic waste that would disqualify them under the Ministry’s draft bill from receiving the full green certificate value. To meet the mandatory EU target for 2020, Poland will have to open one 250 kW farm biogas plant every day for the next seven years, having only done 28 in the last ten years. In the opinion of German and Polish experts, constructing these plants to only use farm waste and silage is not economi-cally viable (it cost more to produce the electricity than it can be sold for, even with the full green certificate multiplier). The draft law does not fulfill Poland’s commit-

ment to meet the EU Directive. The draft law will also not benefit 99% of all farmers, who are too small to support a farm biogas plant. Centralized biogas plants - taking farm wastes from several farms and other material to make it economical to oper-ate - are a common European solution to provide biogas benefits to smaller farmers, but these plants will be difficult or impos-sible to build under the draft law.

The draft provides half of the green cer-tificate value for plants that use meat and food processing wastes, sewage sludge, and household and restaurant food wastes, even if they also use farm wastes. These organic wastes are also required to be man-aged in a more rigorous fashion by new EU rules and Poland lacks the infrastruc-ture in most cases to do so. The National Association of Gminas recognizes the problem and has endorsed amending the draft law to treat all organic wastes with the same level of support as the law would provide for swine manure. The common-sense approach has been resisted by the

Ministry of Agriculture, which is stub-bornly ignoring everything but farm-based biogas plants for the small number of potential farms that could theoretically build them.

Problematic wastes from the processing of meat, poultry and other food products as well as sewage sludge can be treated in biogas plants to kill the pathogens in the waste and increase their value as fertilizer. This approach is endorsed by every non-governmental environmental organiza-tion, including GreenPeace, as well as the European Parliament and Commission. Yet the draft law cuts support for process-ing these materials to half of what a farm using swine manure will receive.

Besides dramatically reducing support, the draft precludes renewable energy pro-ducers from selling electricity to local di-rect users at higher than a flat price set by the Ministry for grid sales. Even the full green certificate values are only half what Germany has provided in support for bio-gas, so the ability to sell the electricity at better prices in the local market has been a valuable incentive for the investment in Poland. The proposal changes the current law and greatly weakens the investment incentives.

The solution to the problems for bio-gas in the proposal are simple. The draft should add a new category of biogas: co-digestion plants that handle all of the sub-strates covered by the EU Directive, includ-ing those mentioned above. Such plants are more expensive to build and operate, including waste pretreatment and sophis-ticated odor control systems. They should receive at least the same level of support as farm plants that handle much less difficult material. The co-digestion plant category is also essential to meet Poland’s obliga-tions for organic waste management under several EU Directives as well as the ambi-tious 980 MW target for biogas capcity in 2020.

Rather than a “roadmap” to their objec-tive of 2,500 biogas plants in Poland by 2020, the Ministry’s proposal is the road to nowhere.

Mr. Mott holds a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University, Washington, DC and is president of CEERES Sp. z o.o. – a Polish biogas

company. He is also on the board of the Polish Economic Chamber for Renewable Energy.

The Road to Nowhere: Govern- ment’s Proposed Law on Biogas

Randy M. Mott

20

November 2012

www.bizpoland.plEnergy

Poland will invest 50 billion pln in the ex-ploration of shale gas by 2020, said Finance Minister Mikolaj Budzanowski in late October. Investment over the next two years will total 5 billion pln, which includes a 1.6 billion pln shale gas deal agreed in July by five Polish energy and mining groups, Budzanowski told the press.

Poland’s current gas accord with Russia expires in 2022, and although the deal can

be renewed, the government intends, in the long run, to wean itself off of Russian gas.

“With the Russian gas accord terminating at the end of 2022, we must be well prepared to noticeably boost the exploitation of our own gas fields three years earlier,” Budzanowski said, adding that state money as well as pri-vate investment would be involved.

The National Geological Institute (PIG) said Poland’s shale gas deposits (estimated

in March at 1,920 billion cubic metres of ex-tractable shale gas deposits) are the third largest in Europe after those of Norway and the Netherlands.

Poland burns 14 billion cubic metres of gas a year, two-thirds of which come from Russia. The government expects extraction to begin in 2014. Energy groups contend that the extraction and exploitation of Polish shale gas could not only allow lead to gas energy independence, but also provide a considerable source of export revenues for the government.

Poland’s politicians continue to zig and zag over plans for nuclear power. While the government officially announced in October that it plans to build its first nucle-ar power station, critics say that plans could yet be scrapped.

The October announcement laid out plans to spend about 60 billion pln on eight new power plants, in Turow, Opole, Pulawy, Blachownia, Stalowa Wola, Jaworzno, Kozienice and Wloclawek.

Treasury Minister Mikolaj Budzanowski told broadcaster TVP Info:

“There will be an additional 50 billion pln spent on the power stations, but this investment decision, and the choice of technology, will come only in 2015”. He added the company managing the nuclear project has just started to seek a location for the power station, a process which should end in 2015 as well.

Poland’s push to develop nuclear power comes as it is squeezed from both the East and the West – with Brussels and the EU pushing Poland to reduce its reliance on heavily-polluting coal, and

continued high natural gas prices from Russia. The geo-politics of any nuclear decision are further complicated by Germany’s recent decision to abandon nuclear power, and the still-unproven yet substantial potential of Poland’s huge shale gas reserves.

The current nuclear plans are to launch a 3 gigawatt nuclear plant by 2023 and double that capacity by 2030. Several large multinationals are keen to win the contract to supply technol-ogy for the project, including the U.S.-Japanese group GE Hitachi, France’s Areva and Westinghouse, a U.S. unit of Japan’s Toshiba.

While the political battles continue to rage over nuclear power and shale gas, Poland’s tried-and-true coal mines con-tinue to spew out low-cost energy, and high profits for its owners, despite slump-ing prices.

Coal miner Bogdanka, according to acting CEO Zbigniew Stopa, said that 2012 profits are on track to exceed 300 million pln, and that 2013 should exceed that level. While coal prices has slumped in recent months, Bogdanka is producing more coal, which offsets the price decline. Bogdanka plans to produce over 8 million tonnes of coal this year and increase this to 9 million tonnes in 2013, aiming for 11 million tonnes in 2014.

Bogdanka, which listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2009, is currently in talks with key customers- mainly local power sta-tions - on the price of coal supplies for 2013.

Mr Stopa said that the talks were diffi-cult because power prices in Poland have slumped in the past few months and power stations are trying to pass this on to coal suppliers. “I would compare the current situation to the one from the end of 2008, when power stations were exerting a lot of

pressure on lowering prices.” But he also said prices actually only came down slight-ly in the end.

He said that “We are now working on a financial plan for next year and everything shows that we will at least maintain net profit at this year’s levels. I cannot confirm that our profit in 2012 will come close to the 350 million zlotys forecast by analysts,

but over 300 million zlotys is a sum that does not shock me at all.”

The group had to cope with a big rise in inventories in mid-2012. “Power sta-tions are trying to delay the deadlines for delivery as they have a lot of coal on their own stocks. He expected the company’s reserves would stand at around 50,000 tonnes at the end of the year”, he said.

Shale gas

Poland to invest 50 billion pln in shale gas by 2020

Nuclear

Will Poland stick to plan to build $15.8 billion nuclear power station?

Coal

Coal price slump heralds slow-down

21

2012 November

www.bizpoland.pl

Vestas receives order for delivery of 40 MW to Poland

Vestas has received an order from Aldesa Nowa Energia Sp. z o.o. for delivery of 20 units of the V90-2.0 MW wind turbine for Poland.

The order has a total capacity of 40 MW and the turbines will be installed in Wicko in the Pomeranian province near Gdansk. Delivery of the turbines is scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2013 and the project is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2013. The order includes supply, installation and com-missioning of the turbines, as well as a three-year service and maintenance agreement.

Aldesa Nowa Energia Sp. z o.o., is a fully-owned subsidiary of the Spanish Aldesa Group focusing on construction, renewable energies, engineering, real estate, auxiliary services and concessions.

The second largest utility in Poland, Tauron Polska Energia S.A., is the end owner of the Wicko wind power plant. This is the second project in 2012 with Vestas turbines and Tauron Polska Energia as the end owner. Earlier this year, Vestas turbines were select-ed for a project only 50 km away from Wicko.

Poland is one of the most attractive wind energy markets in Europe due to its

excellent wind speed conditions in large parts of the country and the outlook for a growing Polish market. According to IHS Emerging Energy Research, Poland has the potential of reaching 7 GW of installed capacity by 2020. This is also underlined in the Polish National Action Plan for Renewable Energy adopted by the Ministry of Economy.

“Poland is one of the key markets for Vestas in a global perspective. We are very happy to be chosen as supplier of turbines for the Wicko project,” said Klaus Steen Mortensen, President of Vestas Northern Europe.

Czech ČEZ re-commits to Poland, plans 600 MW wind farms

CzecheEnergy company CEZ wants to build wind farms with a capacity of 600 megawatts in Poland by 2017. But CEZ spokeswoman Barbora Pulpanova said that it is difficult in this phase to esti-mate what the output of the power plants will be within five years. The project is

for now in the phase of preparations, Pulpanova said.

CEZ wants to obtain a building per-mit for the wind farms next year. The company could start to build the pow-er plants next year already, but the year 2014 is a more likely date for the launch of construction, according to Pulpanova.

It is now difficult to estimate the date when the power plants will be launched into op-eration, Pulpanova said. CEZ is not producing electricity from wind energy in Poland now. CEZ bought a majority stake in Polish devel-oper of wind parks Eco - Wind Construction in December 2011. The developer has a total of 15 projects in its portfolio that have a total capac-ity of up to 700 megawatts.

Energy

Poland’s wind industry is preparing a last-ditch attempt to persuade politicians to amend proposed renewables legislation that it claims is seriously flawed and could ham-per development.

Polish Wind Energy Association (PWEA) deputy director Arkadiusz Sekscinski claims that in its current form, the RES Act – which will be debated in parliament in November – “will bring green-energy development in our country to a halt and will force many renew-ables investors to withdraw”.

A major concern centres on the draft law’s impact on the system of tradeable “green certificates” awarded to buyers of re-newable power.

Under the proposals, the national regulator will set an upper limit to the price to be paid for renewable power by Poland’s so-called “suppliers of last resort” — electricity dis-tributors that are obliged to buy renewables output from areas of the network they service.

The draft RES Act says any purchasers of renewable power paying above that figure will lose the accompanying green certifi-cates, and the revenue that goes with them.

Market observers have noted that the penalty imposed on power sales above the

regulated price could have a serious impact on the viability of current or future power-purchase agreements.

The Ministry of Economy wants the act to be implemented from 1 January 2015.

Sekscinski says the PWEA “has done what it can with the ministry, but we have faced a brick wall”. The association has commissioned an independent study from PricewaterhouseCoopers into the problems surrounding the bill, including transitional arrangements for current investments.

It is understood that Dong Energy and Iberdrola are considering plans to exit the country. “The position is not yet totally clear, but both companies are actively considering which wind markets they want to be in,” says one analyst.

Offshore windfarm gets grid preferencePoland’s political preferences for offshore

wind over onshore are increasingly obvi-ous, as illustrated by the agreement in late October by grid operator PSE Operator to connect top utility PGE’s planned offshore windfarm on the Baltic Sea to the country’s power system. PSE Operator has repeatedly told onshore wind farms that it lacks the technical capacity to add more wind capacity.

The farm, with a potential capacity of 1045.5 megawatts and expected to start operations in 2019, is the second offshore windfarm that PSE has pledged to connect to the grid.

State-controlled PGE, the leader in Poland’s fledgling offshore wind industry, has won permits to launch three wind farm projects with a combined potential capacity of 3.45 gigawatts. PGE’s long-term strategy calls for the generation of 1 gigawatt in off-shore wind power by 2020 and another giga-watt by 2025.

Although Poland currently has no opera-tional offshore wind farms, wind-industry insiders say that offshore wind is the “big gun” that can help Poland reach its EU-mandated target of 15% of energy generated by renewables by 2020.

The Baltic Sea, with its relatively strong wind and shallow, calm water, offers plenty of potential for generation of offshore wind power. Industry-insiders have said that the concessions for offshore wind were gen-erally awarded to large Polish companies, which lack the technology, but will enter into partnerships and joint ventures with large international wind groups, which will bring both the technological prowess as well as the substantial financial resources required to develop offshore wind.

REpower sells 22 wind turbines to WSB for Legnica project

Suzlon Group- subsidiary REpower Systems SE and WSB Neue Energien GmbH signed a contract for the delivery and construction of 22 REpower MM92 wind turbines at the

HUSUM WindEnergy trade fair. The tur-bines, each with a rated power of 2.05 MW, are intended for the Taczalin project near Legnica in Lower Silesia. Construction and commissioning of the wind farm, which will have a total power output of 45.1 MW,

are scheduled for completion in August 2013. In August 2011, Dresden-based WSB commissioned a wind farm near Opole, its first in Poland. REpower has already set up two service support points in Poland for the maintenance of its turbines installations.

Wind

Polish wind industry fi ghts to change ‘fl awed’ legislation

22

November 2012

www.bizpoland.plEnergy

According to research

company eclareon, solar in

Poland amounted to under 1%

of installed renewable energy

capacity in 2011, with less

than 2 MW of PV connected

to the grid.

Solar and PV set to be big winner from new RES law

Poland is expected to introduce a new Renewable Energy Sources (RES) Act dur-ing next year, and the law will see the introduction of a specific PV support scheme, which will likely strongly boost PV development and investment.

While the new law is meant to come into force in January 2013, some believe it will not enter into law until at least the second quarter of next year. Christian Schnell, a Polish lawyer working at DMS DeBenedetti Majewski Szcześniak: “I don’t expect the law to be fully in place before the second half of 2013. The notification process with the EC usually needs at least half a year,” he states.

Even less optimistic is CEO of Polish company Easy Solar, Marcin Dolata, who believes the law may only come into force at the end of 2013. Having already laid out

a plan on the back of the promised PV sup-port, he has had to apply the brakes until it is known when the act will be passed. As currently laid out in the RES Act, remuner-ation for PV systems under 100 kWp will be paid by state-owned electricity offtak-ers (the so called “supplier of last resort”), and will comprise the maximum price for green certificates (GCs) – instead of around 95%, as is the market norm taking into ac-count the compensation fee – multiplied by a “correction coefficient,” and coupled with payment for renewable electricity, which is

guaranteed by the grid operator and based on the average price of electricity from the previous year. In 2013, this will be around €0.05/kWh.

Stanislaw Pietruszko, President of the Polish Society for Photovoltaics tells pv magazine he has suggested to the govern-ment that a Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) should be made available for systems up to 5 MW.

In addition to the higher tariff, another sign of the government’s preference for systems up to 100 kWp, is the introduction of simplified licensing procedures. For in-stance, while a renewable energy developer

must currently apply for a license enabling it to generate and sell electricity, and regis-ter as a commercial activity – both of which are said to represent “major obstacles” – under the proposed new law, systems up to 200 kWp will not require this license, and Microsystems under 40 kWp will not have to register as a commercial activity. Pietruszko adds that grid connection for microsystems will be free and obligatory, and that a building notification or permit for systems under 40 kWp will not be re-quired if their height is lower than 3 meters.

While current capacity is negligible, the new RES measures will boost PV’s Polish presence. Aimed to boost the uptake of PV systems up to 100 kWp, the govern-ment has devised a feed-in tariff (FIT) of 1.1 Polish zloty (PLN)/kWh for at least the first 2 years.

Tradable on the Polish Power Exchange, electricity companies must accumulate enough Green Certificates (GC) to reach their quota targets as laid out by the coun-try’s energy act. All renewable energy sys-tems, regardless of technology, received 1 GC for each

MW of renewable energy produced. “This promoted the deployment of the most cost-competitive and mature tech-nologies, meaning other, more costly re-newable energy technologies [like PV] were not deployed,” says consultant Anna Poblocka. To mitigate this situation, the new correction coefficients have been de-vised to favor certain renewable technol-ogy, which will then be used to determine the amount of certificates to be issued. Unlike previously, the amount of GCs will also depend on the size of the plant and the date of its commissioning. “The cor-rection rates for 2013 are expected to range from 0.3 per MWh for biomass cofiring in coal power plants, to 2.85 for photovoltaic plants,” continues Poblocka.

Too generous

According to Pietruszko, the current rates for PV systems above 100 kWp are very gen-erous. “If you compare this with the situation in Germany, where big systems now have rates below 18 euro cents … one can expect

Solar boom coming to Poland

Despite uncertainties regarding the implementation of the law,

and grid connection issues, the PV investment

landscape appears healthy.

23

2012 November

www.bizpoland.pl Energy

that there will be a big run to the Polish mar-ket,” he says, adding that the coefficients for bigger systems should be reduced to avoid a boom and bust situation. Less concerned is Schnell: “€0.23 … is too much – everybody should know that. But maybe to boom the market at the beginning is a good idea.” He believes that since the next coefficients will be published in 3 years, based on the mar-ket situation at that time, and enacted in 5 years, there is a “window of opportunity” for developers. “The next correction coeffi-cients … will be substantially lower,” he adds. Schnell’s main concern is GC oversupply. “The moment you have oversupply, of course the certificate prices fall,” he says. “The sys-tem here is such that if you don’t have the amount of certificates you should have, due to the quotation obligations … you have to pay a compensation fee for the rest.” He ex-plains that electricity producers are looking to buy certificates for around 95 to 97% of the PLN 286.74 per MWh compensation fee.

Government vs. industry

On the matter of oversupply, eyebrows have been raised over the government’s installed PV capacity target of 600 MW by 2020. Overall, it expects just 50 MW to be in-stalled in 2012, and that annual growth shall not reach more than 90 MW until the end of the decade. Responding to the targets, Easy Solar’s Marcin Dolata tells pv maga-zine they are too low and underestimate the ability of the PV industry. He predicts over 400 MW will be installed in the first year alone, and that by 2020, 1 to 2 GW could be in place. Schnell, Pietruszko and eclareon are also skeptical of the government’s low expectations, and Pietruszko suggests that by 2020, 1.8 GW could be installed.

Taking a more neutral stance, Janusz Starościk head of the Polish heating orga-nization SPIUG says, “There are no reliable forecasts … The potential is so big that 600 MW till 2020 seems to be underestimated. On the other side, there are only about 2 MW of PV officially connected into the grid … There are big expectations of pri-vate potential producers, who want to in-stall PV to produce energy in Poland. We hear even about uncontrolled explosion of new installations, in case start of the new RES law. Those high expectations could be confronted with reality.”

Many in the industry say they intend to focus on systems between 1 and 10 MW. “It is supposed to be quite easy to get project finance for a 1 to 5 MW solar park,” says Christian Schnell, who expects the major-ity of new installations to fall within this range, at least in the beginning. KRD is already working on PV projects in Poland

as contractor and, in certain cases, as co-investor. Project sizes will range from 100 kW to 30 MW, and locations will cover the northwest and southeast of the country. Meanwhile, Easy Solar has begun laying the groundwork for its PV projects. Originally, it had planned a pipeline of 20 and 25 MW, comprising a 10 MW project for a third par-ty, and a series of self-owned 5 MW projects for installation in 2013 in the center and western parts of Poland. But, following the delay of the RES Act, the company’s plans are on hold and it has instead strengthened its focus on the development of a partner network, with the aim of building the larg-est PV distribution network in Poland.

While he declined to divulge details, Parabel Solar’s Siegfried Kowalewski said the Germany-based company will also be working on crystalline PV projects in Poland. “It’s a big opportunity for Parabel … considering the small geographical dis-

tance from Parabel’s locations to poten-tial PV sites, which allows quick response supported by its long term experience in ground-mounted PV power plants.”

France-based Senersun has just closed a 23 MW module supply contract with Poland’s Solar-Bau. A spokesperson for Senersun tells pv magazine the compa-ny expects to see shipments increase to the country, in part due to the new law. However, its aim is to develop its part-nership with Solar-Bau to strengthen its Polish presence “with or without incen-tives.” Current project costs are said to be between €1.2 to €1.4/W.

Biggest bottleneck

Everyone is in agreement that the biggest bottleneck to Poland’s PV development is grid connection. As Schnell tells pv maga-zine, it is currently too costly to connect to the 220 or 400 kilovolt (kv) grid, due to the massive “ghost capacities” from the wind industry, said to total up to 10 GW. There is very limited capacity available for new PV projects, and one of the only viable options

is to connect to the regional 110 kv or local 20 kV grid. “This is in the hands of a few regional grid operators – all state-owned – and these guys are very reluctant when it comes to connecting something to the grid,” says Schnell. He continues, “Everybody right now who is applying for new techni-cal grid connections either gets a no-go, or gets a go but with heavy investments in extending the 110 kv grid. And these are investments of up to €10 million. This is something which pays off for a 70, 80, 90 MW wind farm, but not for a 5 to 10 MW PV farm.” Pietruszko goes on to say, “Many people are applying for the connection con-ditions and this paper is valid for 2 years if you don’t sign the grid connection contract, so it means that even if they don’t start building the systems they have booked the capacity which other people

then can’t use. This is not good.” Fortunately, there are a few locations in

Poland, which are not dominated by wind, namely in the southwest. “Here you have quite a good grid, you don’t have wind, so there’s a big chance to connect 5 to 10 MW PV farms,” explains Schnell.

Bank fi nancing for solar

Despite uncertainties regarding the imple-mentation of the law, and grid connection is-sues, the PV investment landscape appears healthy. According to Schnell, a few first mover banks, including Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank and Germany’s DZ Bank are said to be interested in following their clients when it comes to PV in Poland. Danish-Norwegian bank DNB Nord and Rabobank subsidiary, BGZ are also keen to finance projects.

The second movers, meanwhile, are said to be Commerz Bank, Nord LB and HypoVereinsbank subsidiary, PeKAO.

Overall, the PV industry – a virtually non-existent industry in Poland - appears pleased with the proposed changes to Poland’s RES Act, which will encourage rapid investment in the sector.

Source: pv Magazine

24

November 2012

www.bizpoland.plFDI News

In late October, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products and Poland’s PAIZ hosted 30 Chinese com-panies at an event to strengthen Polish-Chinese economic relations, dubbed “China-Poland Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum”.

The event was attended by large Chinese companies, such as China State Construction Engineering Corp, Harbin Electric, and China Railway Signal & Communication Corp.

Following a morning session on oppor-tunities in Poland for Chinese in key sec-tors such as energy, infrastructure, auto-motive and construction sector, business matchmaking sessions introduced Polish firms, such as Tauron Power and Orion Electric. “We meet at the moment of dis-covering Poland by China and China by Poland. We are happy that we can be part of this process. Polish companies have be-gun to pay more attention to cooperation with China. The interministerial GoChina program contributes to it”, said Slawomir Majman, President of PAIZ. ■

Chinese–Polish economic cooperation

Shi YonghongChina Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products; Vice President

Jin LuolanChina Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products; Director

Sheng GuofeiChina Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products; Staff

Zhang XutaoChina Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products; Staff

Hu WeidongDongfang Electric International Corporation; Vice President

Yuan XueminChina Tianchen Engineering Corporation; Vice President

Sun BaishuangChina Tianchen Engineering Corporation; Regional Manager

Wang WeiSinoma International Engineering Co.Ltd; Chairman

Li QinSinoma International Engineering Co.Ltd; Senior Manager of Investment Management Department

Li JiqinChina State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd.; Overseas Operations Managing Director

Wang YuhangChina CAMC Engineering Co.,Ltd; Vice President

Liu JiadanChina CAMC Engineering Co.,Ltd; Manager of department 9

Ding ZhengguoPower Construction Corporation of China; Assistant to Group President

Xu ShoutingChina IPPR International Engineering Corporation; Vice-President

Zhang YuanlingChina National Corporation For Overseas Economic Cooperation; Deputy General Manager

Hong JiaqingChina National Corporation For Overseas Economic Cooperation; Dept. Deputy General Manager

Cao XisenShandong Luneng Mount Tai Electric Equipment Co., Ltd; Chairman of the Board

Li YuhaoShandong Luneng Mount Tai Electric Equipment Co., Ltd; General Manager of Dept.

Zhang XiaoTaishan Group TaiAn Boao International Trade Co., Ltd.; General Manager

Shi LiChina Gezhouba Group International Engineering Co. Ltd.; Vice President

Sun YangBeijing Peony Electronic Group Co., Ltd; deputy chief engineer

Deng QiangChina Railway Signal & Communication Corp. Ltd; Deputy General Manager of CRSC International Co., Ltd

Yun liangSINOHYDRO Group Ltd.; Executive Vice President

Luo HuiyanTBEA Co.,Ltd

Assistant G-MTABARA INESA TBEA Co.,Ltd; Project Manager

Xu XianglinShanghai Linde Hotel Equipment (Shanghai)Co.,Ltd; President

Zhang LiweiHarbin Electric International Company Limited; Vice President

Liu ZhizhuoHarbin Electric International Company Limited; Deputy manager

Jin JianshengGuangZhou CityStar Logistics co.,LTD; President

Wu JiyanGuangZhou CityStar Logistics co.,LTD; Market General Manager

Pan QinpingGuangdong JinTairong medicine Co., Ltd.; General Manager

China Trade and Investment Promotion Delegation to Poland

China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products

Supervised by Ministry of Commerce of China, CCCME is one of the largest and leading chambers of commerce in China. Now it has nearly 10,000 members.

Dongfang Electric International CorporationThe main business of Dongfang Electric International Corporation involves power generation, power distribution and transmission, environmental protection, traffi c and transporta-tion, etc.

China Tianchen Engineering CorporationTCC provides engineering consultant, design, procurement, construction management and commission supervision of chemical projects.

Sinoma International Engineering Co.LtdSinoma International provides service ranging from cement technology, equipments manufacturing to engineering, and enjoys integrated industrial chain resources.

China State Contruction Engineering Corporation Ltd

The core businesses of CSCEC range from building construc-tion, international contracting, real estate development & investment, infrastructure to design & engineering.

China CAMC Engineering Co.,LtdCAMCE’s business mainly covers engineering procurement construction (EPC) projects, domestic and foreign investment, and international trade.

Power Construction Corporation Of ChinaPower Construction Corp China is a mega-scale power construction company capable of providing one-stop service in various power sectors. Its world-class technical edge covers planning, survey, design, construction and operation in hydropower, thermal power, renewable energy, power grid and infrastructure.

China IPPR International Engineering CorporationIPPR possesses Qualifi cation of Comprehensive Engineering Design Grade A, able to undertake engineering design for

all industries and all levels and perform general contracting for engineering project and project management involving 21 fi elds such as architecture, machinery, medication, ship, weapon, municipal facilities, commerce, chemical engineering, energy, building materials, light industry, etc

China National Corporation For Overseas Economic Cooperation

We have successfully undertaken to provide goods, equipment and technical services to more than 600 overseas develop-ment projects funded under Chinese foreign-aid schemes in various fi elds ranging from energy, light and chemical industries, telecommunication, transportation and agriculture to culture, sports, health care and urban construction, winning praises from both the Chinese government and governments of the recipient countries.

Shandong Luneng Mount Tai Electric Equipment Co., Ltd

The company has oversea project contracting qualifi cation by itself, and has participated in EPC of foreign thermal power plant (300WV), transmission lines and substations with State Grid and LuNeng Power Construction Group.

Taishan Group Taian Boao International Trade Co., Ltd

Taishan Group is a large state enterprise group which is a major designer and manufacture of industrial boilers, utility boiers, pressure vessels, electrical equipment, cable circuit technology, ship exhaust cooling and other products.

China Gezhouba Group International Engineering Co.,Ltd

Gezhouba is the highest in China’s international contracting sector and machinery and electronic products import and ex-port sector, and has built more than 100 large and medium-sized hydropower stations including the world-famous Three Gorges Project and more than 4,000 projects of various kinds including nuclear power projects, thermal power projects, wind power projects, airport projects, railway projects, expressway projects, port projects, embankment projects, civil architecture projects, municipal public projects, etc.

Beijing Peony Electronic Group Co., LtdBeing engaged in DTV industry, PEONY GROUP extended its four business scope to components, new display devices, system solutions and detection technology.

China Railway Signal & Communication Corp. LtdCRSC focus on the system of signaling, communication, informatization, power supply, traction power and automatic controlling in the fi eld of transportation, also engaged in the fi eld of housing and building, public works, road, bridge and tunnel.

SINOHYDRO Group Ltd.SINOHYDRO is a global enterprise active in engineering & construction, power investment, real estate, and M&E.

TBEA Co.,LtdTBEA represents the world’s third largest global transformer supplier and one of the biggest Chinese manufacturing and exporting base of photovoltaic systems and products, as well as of electronic new materials..

Shanghai Linde Hotel Equipment Co.,LtdThe company has been working in hotel facility industry for 15 years.

Harbin Electric International Company LimitedHEI is primarily engaged in the supply of complete sets of equipment, the undertaking of EPC project, and the construc-tion of relative substation, transmission lines, and other utilities in the area of thermal power plants, hydroelectric, and combined-cycle power plant projects. HEI also provided comprehensive professional after-sale service for the power plant..

GuangZhou CityStar Logistics Co.,LTDCity Star Services products Intercity Automotive general pieces, fi ne pieces, Army aviation parts and so on.

Guangdong JinTairong medicine Co., Ltd.Company JinTairong specializes in pharmaceutical, wholesale distribution, pharmaceutical marketing.

China Trade and Investment Promotion Delegation to Poland

Brief introduction of delegation members

25

2012 November

www.bizpoland.pl FDI News

Brazil and Colombia tempt tourists and investors

Ambassadors from Colombia and Brazil met at the PAIZ investment promotion office with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Beata Stelmach in mid-October to highlight the opportunities for Polish companies.

During the meeting, HE the Ambassador of Colombia in Poland, Mrs Victoria Gonzalez Ariza and HE Ambassador of Brazil to Poland, Mr Jorge Geraldo Kadri along with repre-sentatives of the institutions respon-sible for the promotion of the economy presented economic potential and in-vestment offer of both countries.

Colombia’s economy grew by 4% in 2010, and since 2003, the index of foreign direct investment increased by 669%, from USD 1.72 billion to USD 13.234 billion in 2011. Exports have boomed, increasing by 73% in the last three years.

Brazil has become one of the leading world-wide recipients of FDI in the last decade. In terms of the value of invest-ment attracted, Brazil has trailed only the United States, China and Great Britain. Brazil is a leader in renewable energy and the third largest producer of passenger air-craft. Among the key advantages of Brazil is a huge internal market.

The conference was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs represented at the meeting by the Secretary of State, Mrs Beata Stelmach, the Embassy of Colombia in Poland, the Embassy of Brazil in Poland, PAIiIZ and Proexport Colombia - the body responsible for the promotion of invest-ment, export and tourism of Colombia.

In late November, PKPP Lewiatan is or-ganizing a delegation for Polish entrepre-neurs to Brazil and Colombia.

Fortitech opens new vitamin plant near Poznan

American company Fortitech officially opened its new plant in Buk, near Poznan, in early October. Fortitech manufactures vitamin premixes for the food industry, supplying the biggest producers in 60 coun-tries. The new, 7000 sqm plant with annual capacity of 5,000 tons, is the third biggest Fortitech site in the world. Together with another plant in Denmark, Buk will supply the growing base of customers in Central

and Eastern Europe. The company em-ploys 20 people, with a target headcount of 100. The value of the investment is USD 11 million. The decision to locate in Buk was due to a combination of factors, including positive investment climate, proximity to Poznan, availability of skilled and tal-ented labor force as well as ideal position-ing with regard to major transportation routes. Fortitech is the 25th company that has located its production in the “Buk” Industrial Park.

Euro-Park WisłoSan Economic Zone lands new sawmill investment

Swedwood Poland will invest about 33 mil-lion pln in the Tarnobrzeg Special Economic Zone Euro-Park WisłoSan. Swedwood Poland Sp. z o.o. - in the sub-section Stalowa Wola – will build a plant for sawmill ac-tivities, on about 26 hectares of land. The company produces prefabricated furniture parts. Cut timber from Stalowa Wola will be used for the production of furniture in Swedwood factories worldwide. The new plant will employ at least 40 employees.

It is the 228th permit issued by ARP SA to operate in the Zone, representing a total of 7 billion pln investment and employing more than 20,000 people.

Japan-Poland seminar

The Japanese embassy and JETRO, togeth-er with PAIZ, hosted a one-day seminar in late October to encourage further invest-ment and trade ties between Poland and Japan, entitled ““How to stimulate and broaden the Japanese-Polish economic relations?”.

Beata Stelmach, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Relations

26

November 2012


Japanese investors in Euro-Park Mielec SEZ

Euro-Park Mielec Special Economic Zone has landed its first Japanese investor from the automotive industry. ARP SA is-sued permission to Japanese company TRI (Poland) to operate in the Subzone Zagórz of SEZ Euro-Park Mielec. TRI will invest 11 million Euro to start production of rub-ber and plastic products for the automo-tive industry. The planned product range includes engine suspension components, bodywork, polyurethane shields and cov-ers for engines and transmission. The first products will leave the production belt in August 2013, and the company expects to employ about 200 employees by 2015.

TRI Group (Tokai Rubber Industries) was established in Japan in 1929 and quickly became a leader in the manufac-ture of automotive anti-vibration parts. TRI (Poland) was established in 1999 and is one of the leading manufacturers of an-ti-vibration and soundproofing parts for cars.

Cosmetics packaging investment of 180 million pln

In Zgorzelec Subzone of Kamiennogórska, the Aerosol International company, linked with the MAXIM capital group - one of the largest European manufacturers of cosmet-ics, will begin construction of a modern pro-duction facility for aerosol packaging.

The Zgorzelec zone has attracted direct investment of 1.76 billion pln, which has created 4800 manufacturing jobs. This new investment will be built on six hect-ares of land, and the investment amount will exceed 180 million pln and create more than 300 jobs. International Aerosol company uses innovative technology to produce packaging. In Zgorzelec, the firm will open an R&D center. Thanks to its innovative technology, the company annu-ally produces about 100 million seamless cans. The production will supply MAXIM group needs on packaging for manufac-tured cosmetics, which are sold in more than 40 countries around the world. This

investment is the first “seed” in a planned cluster, aimed to attract cosmetic packag-ing firms using modern technologies.

Chassis Brakes International

Chassis Brakes International (CBI), one of the world’s largest manufacturers of auto-motive foundation brakes and brake com-ponents, initiated the construction of a production plant in Mirkow near Wroclaw in October. The value of the project is €13.5 million, and it is expected to start opera-tions in August 2013. CBI is the former foundation brakes business of Bosch, which in June 2012 was acquired by KPS Capital Partners in a global deal. The trans-action covered brake production opera-tions at Bosch’s facility in Mirkow. These activities will now be moved to a separate, new plant erected for CBI. Whether the relocation brings new jobs will depend on the outcome of large contract tenders the company is currently participating in, said Wojciech Sliwinski, head of CBI’s Wroclaw unit. CBI has 21 manufacturing facilities and engineering centres in Europe, Asia, and South America and employs approxi-mately 6,000 people worldwide.

Beef investor in the Łódź Special Economic Zone

Beef-Beef Company will start business in the Łódź Special Economic Zone. The firm plants to process (yes, you guessed it) beef. The firm plans to invest at least 70 million pln to build a 29,000 sm facility, and will employ at least 100 workers.

Precision-cutting plant in Kamiennogórska sub-zone

The company “Motyl” s.c. – a unique world-wide manufacturer of ultrathin grind-ing wheels used for precision cutting and processing - has been authorized to set up business in the special economic zone Europark Mielec S.A. - Lubartów Subzone.

PAIZ boasts of another 400 jobs in high-tech sectors

Three more companies recently announced plans to invest and create antoher 400 jobs, in the BPO, R & D and aviation sec-tors. Currently, the PAIZ Agency is work-ing on 149 projects, with could lead to new investment of 6 billion euro, and addition-al 37,000 jobs.

There is no change in the list of the largest investors looking at new projects in Poland: the United States still leads with 31 projects (EUR 738 million, 6,049 jobs). Next coun-tries are Germany with 18 projects (EUR 543 million, 4,429 jobs), United Kingdom (16 projects, EUR 191 million, 2,849 jobs), China (11 projects) and France (5 projects).

There was slight change among the most popular sectors. In the first place remains automotive industry (28 projects, EUR 2,098 million, 13,869 jobs), BPO (26 proj-ects, EUR 29 million, 7,043 jobs), ICT and machinery (10 projects each), R&D and chemical industry (9 projects each).

So far in 2012, PAIZ has already closed 36 investments, with a total value over 1 bil-lion euro. The projects will create in Poland at least 6,559 new jobs in the near future.

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Kazakh - Polish Economic Seminar

The Polish-Kazakh Economic Seminar was held in late September in Astana, and included a visit by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Mr Waldemar Pawlak.

The aim of the seminar, in cooperation with PAIZ, was to introduce investment offers between Poland and Kazakhstan as well as strengthen bilateral economic cooperation. The presidium was seated by Prime Minister Mr Waldemar Pawlak, Mr Rapie Żoszybajew - Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan as well as President of PAIZ - Mr Slawomir Majman and Vice President of Kazakhstan Chamber of Commerce and Industry - Mr Erenow Ajan, who served as moderators of the meeting. The speakers’ presenta-tions focused on the investment potential between Kazakhstan and Poland, includ-ing the World Expo to be held in Astana in 2017, and the experience of Polish compa-nies investing in Kazakhstan.

After the official speeches, match-mak-ing sessions and bilateral talks between Polish and Kazakh businessmen and rep-resentatives of business organizations were held.

The seminar was also an opportunity to sign cooperation agreements between the Polish-Kazakh Chamber of Commerce and the Union of Poles in Kazakhstan as well as between companies Kazakhstan Opalubka ULMA and AstanaSerwisStroiMontaz, as well as Krusz service and PSK M-Tunes.

The seminar was organized by PAIiIZ, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry

of the Republic of Kazakhstan as well as Kaznex Invest.

Medical tourism promoted to in-ternational journalists

Foreign journalists came to Poland to hear about the potential for medical tour-ism projects, including Polish health-resorts and clinics. The program, held in late September, including study-tours to Warsaw, Krakow, Wieliczka and Wieliszew. Journalists met the representatives of the Carolina Medical Center, Cyberknife, DENTestetica and “Wieliczka” Salt Mine. These institutions are involved in the promotion of Polish medical tourism, and supported by EuCP and Ameds Centre. The delegation included representatives of media journalists from the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Russia and the United States - countries identified as priorities in promotion of Polish medical tourism.

More investors attracted to Szczecin special economic zone

Over 200 jobs as well as PLN 20 million of new investment are coming to the Szczecin area, as a result of two large investors, who plan to operate on ul. Struga in the Szczecin Special Economic Zone.

Szczecin announced the sale of two plots within the Special Economic Zone. One of the investors is Sanger Metal Ltd from Szczecin, which purchased a 5,000 square meter plot. The company specializes in manufacturing devices used for lifting and securing freight. The company plans to build a 2500 square meter production hall

with adjacent offices. The estimated in-vestment value is around PLN 3.8 million. The company plans to employ 47 people by the year 2016, and plans to start opera-tions in the new manufacturing plant in mid-2014.

By the end of the year 2013 another com-pany from Szczecin is planning to final-ized its new investment. HLK Dekoracja Okien Ltd. plans to build a 8000 square meter manufacturing hall and 800 square meter offices, on a 3 ha plot. The estimated value of the investment is around PLN 16 million. By 2016, the company said it will employ almost 200. It is also implementing a first on the Polish market – an innova-tive system of building automation, which is tailored to the interior window roller-blinds industry.

16th Polish-Belarusian Economic Forum

In October in Minsk, the 16th Polish-Belarusian Economic Forum “Neighborliness 2012” under the theme: “Energy, agriculture and finance as the main source of growth of the Belarusian-Polish economic cooperation” was held.

The Forum was held under the aus-pices of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Belarus.

There were two plenary sessions, as well as three special seminars devoted to the energy industry, renewable energy and co-operation opportunities and conditions in financial institutions. The event coincided

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with the opening of the “Energy Expo 2012” International Fair and Exhibition, devoted to industrial power generation and renew-able energy.

“Neighborliness 2012” was organized by the Polish-Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry as well as the Department of Trade and Investment Promotion of the Polish Embassy in Belarus. Strategic partner of the project was the Agricultural Market Agency.

Biomedical center opens near Poznan

In Złotniki near Poznan, Nickel BioCentrum has opened a new biomedi-cal center, housed within the Nickel Technology Park Poznań (NTPP), which has more than 4,000 square meters of class laboratory and office space for the sector. PTB Nickel construction com-pany is responsible for the 22 million pln investment.

“Nickel BioCentrum is another step in our ongoing projects that support the de-velopment of Polish biotechnology, medi-cal and Life Sciences. Our park, among others, is the founder of the Association of Wielkopolska BioRegion, as well as

for the last two years the organizer of international biobusiness meetings - BIOCONNECT conference”, said Dagmara Nickel, president of NTPP, at the opening ceremony. “Thanks to funding from the EU’s Wielkopolska Regional Operational Programme for years 2007-2013, which provided 50% of the investment, we could create a very modern infrastructure near Poznan, meeting the high standards con-nected with bioeconomy. Setting up of the infrastructure will help to commercialize the ideas and research results of Polish sci-entists and certainly will contribute in the coming years to increase the level of inno-vation in our country.”

Nickel BioCentrum and the Nickel Technology Park Poznań specialize in ac-tivities to support the development of the IT sector and bio-business.

New regional park and the fi rst investor in Gryfi no

In a newly established regional park in Gryfino, near Szczecin, Gotech Ltd from Gorzów Wielkopolski will set up new ser-vices and manufacturing facilities. The company, operating since 1990, is a leader in the Polish and European power and in-dustrial construction market. The compa-ny’s main sectors are construction, mod-ernization, renovation of electrical wiring and manufacturing services. Gotech’s main clients are western European com-panies from sectors such as energy, chemicals, fuel, metallurgical as well as timber processing. The company plans to start production of steel components for power plants, and the investment will cre-ate 80 jobs in the Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeship. The reason of choosing the town of Gardno as the factory’s loca-tion is its easy access to the German and Scandinavian markets. Gryfino industrial park is a 160 ha area, including 55 ha with a status of Special economic zone with facili-ties worth over PLN 35 million. ■

Dagmara Nickel, president of NTPP,

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Mr President, Ms Speaker, Mr Speaker, Honourable Deputies.This information from the Government, which some call the second exposé, is, I be-lieve, essential after the initial year of our work, after the first year of the second term of the Government formed by the coalition between the Civic Platform and the Polish Peasants’ Party. Why do we need this second exposé? Because 2013, which will be a dif-ficult year not only for Poland, a year with far more questions than certainties as to the developments in the economy, a demanding year calling for different tools and for creative thinking to find solutions to protect Poland against the crisis as effectively as today. My so-called second exposé will largely focus on economic measures that the Government, all the Poles in fact, must undertake to keep Poland safe during the global turmoil. There are no grounds to believe that 2013 would be less difficult or more calm in the global or European dimension. It will be a different year, but not necessarily a more difficult one for Poland. We need to adjust our economic policy to the current situation, we need to act in a flexible way, consistently, and come up with fresh ideas. The value of such a strategy has been proven by our experience in the last five years. Thanks to our ability to act flex-ibly and tailor our actions to match the cir-cumstances, Poland managed to survive the critical year better than the majority of other countries. After a year that has not been easy, I would also like to provide you with a concise report on what we have managed to achieve in this year.

* * *

I am aware that any authority can sometimes be irritating. The Government in office for five years can be disappointing. I know this from my experience as the Prime Minister, but also from my experience as a member of the opposition, and therefore I have no doubts that those who remain in the coali-tion, as well as those who are disappointed with it, will demand that every day, not just on an exceptional day like this when I present this information, we prove that every action we take is an effort to regain their confidence and trust, to rebuild their faith, not only in the authorities, but also their faith that their affairs, everyday affairs of ordinary Poles, are on the right path.

* * *

A few days ago, I presented to the general public a report on what we have managed to accomplish as regards the objectives of the exposé I delivered before the Parliament last year. I would like to say that I am aware that this year has not been easy for the people, although the primary objective, the most important goal for the authorities in every European country, is to effectively protect its citizens against the effects of the crisis. This year was a kind of investment in difficult decisions so that Poland and Poles could feel safe, so that we could say it in a year with a clear conscience – we did not and we will not let the crisis in. It has obviously been knock-ing at our door, not for a day or a year, but we have made and implemented the decisions that have not always been popular, to say the least. And I am referring here mainly to the changes in the pension system and the retire-ment age increase, as well as to other deci-sions concerning other professional groups that had been enjoying special pension privi-leges, to the essential decisions arising from the need to stabilise the state budget – what I have in mind here is the increase in pension contributions. But as all of you probably re-member, although some would prefer not to, in my first exposé I also talked about what we could contribute in these difficult times. And we talked about the necessary raises for uni-formed services. Police officers and military men received them as of 1 July. Other ser-vices – as of 1 October, as announced. Owing to the fact that this year we did not have to spend enormous sums of money on removing the consequences of natural disasters – and this was the condition we mentioned – we managed to find the necessary funds. As we announced, we also started a cycle of salary rises for the employees of higher education institutions. It is a 10% rise each year. We are going to launch the project in 2013.

* * *

In my address, I would like to focus on two key issues. The third highly significant issue, namely our strategy in Europe, our foreign policy in the context of the changes tak-ing place in the European Union, will be the subject of a separate address following the October meeting of the European Council, but still before the crucial November meet-ing. I believe that the Parliament will also be prepared for a very serious debate on the possible ratification of the fiscal compact, as it will also outline our European strategy

for many years to come. But let us make this wide-ranging issue the subject of my address and our debate in the nearest future.

Today, in the context of 2013, I need to and would like to focus on two issues that are key in my opinion. However, they are key not for the government and not for the opposition, but for the society. If everybody predicts that 2013 will be another critical year, although nobody knows to what extent, in Europe, and when everybody wonders what priorities we should set at turbulent times of crisis, I point to two indisputable priorities.

The priority is to maintain economic growth; to maintain Poland’s development rate which fills the rest of the world with awe. We should be determined to maintain this positive growth rate, even at a lower level than in the recent years, regardless of the cost, not to brag with statistics better than those other countries, but to protect each and every job. We have prepared several tools and decisions which, in my opinion, will ensure safety for Poles and will allow me to speak in fairly optimistic terms about the hopes attached to the Polish unique way of dealing with the crisis.

Firstly, we have developed a banking tool which requires additional instruments in the form of a special purpose entity under the Polish Investments programme. Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) will be the operator. Until 2015 it will be provided with the capital of PLN 40 billion to achieve in-vestment capacities amounting to PLN 40 billion in this period, i.e. until 2015. This will be possible to achieve without compro-mising Poland’s financial security, i.e. with-out increasing the public deficit or debt by this amount. This will be possible by mak-ing active use of currently frozen capital. I mean state-owned shares in State Treasury companies. We would like these assets, cur-rently passive so to speak, to work for the benefit of investments with the participa-tion of private capital and higher creditwor-thiness. According to the calculations which will be presented by Minister Rostowski and by Minister Budzanowski in more detail to-morrow, this way we will be able to create a leverage for investments in and lending to the Polish economy. As I already mentioned, the investments will absorb up to PLN 40 bil-lion by 2015 and about PLN 90 billion over six years, and they must be profitable. The investments cannot be treated as a form of state aid.

Excerpts from Address of Prime Minister Donald

Tusk delivered at the Sejm on 12 October 2012

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Companies with the participation of State Treasury and the government make joint de-cisions on large scale investments in the ener-gy sector. It has twofold implications. Firstly, we continue the large programme for energy security and Poland’s energy independence that we started five years ago. Secondly, this way we invest not only budget funds, but also funds that belong to commercial law companies. Large energy projects that involve the work of thousands and tens of thousands of people. What facts are we talk-ing about? We are talking about around PLN 60 billion until 2020, for the investment pro-cess will last as the projects are large. It will last for many years, but it starts now. Here, I am talking about building power blocks. In Turów, in Opole, in Puławy, in Blachownia, in Stalowa Wola, in Jaworzno, in Kozienice, in Włocławek. I am talking about continuing the construction of a gas terminal. I am talk-ing about a project that has already started – thousands of kilometres of gas pipelines, and about gas storage facilities. By the end of 2014 we will have enhanced their capacity from slightly over 1.5 billion cubic meters to almost 3 billion cubic meters during these two years. What is more, we plan to finish the intercon-nector, i.e. the energy link between Poland and Lithuania built with the use of European funds, in 2020, but we are starting work now. We are also expanding the Gdańsk oil ter-minal. If we sum it up for the total for the next seven years, the PLN 60 billion will also translate into actual jobs as soon as in 2013.

We have concluded the work on a legal act that has given rise to various emotional reactions: the Act on shale gas. As you know – and especially one MP keeps reminding us of the issue – shale gas is extremely impor-tant for Poland. However, we do not need to be reminded, we are well aware of the hopes that Poles vest in our new national source of energy. Shale gas means also some direct in-vestment by state-owned companies: PGNiG, Orlen, Lotos and KGHM. It also involves con-structing three drilling pad sites; we assume that by 2016 these investments will reach PLN 5 billion. The Act on shale gas should become a topic of our joint debate; this act must not be treated as a property of this Government or of any future governments: it must ensure energy and financial security of all Poles.

We will also carry on with the most devel-oped national infrastructural project, the project which, as many people believe, has somehow lost momentum after the EURO 2012. I am talking about motorways and national roads. We all know the dramatic experience of some construction compa-nies; we also know how important it is to continue investment, regardless of the gap between the current and the next European

Perspective. Therefore, we are looking for ways to mobilise financial resources for the purpose, as well as for fast public procure-ment and project implementation proce-dures, so that the money that we talk about while referring to “Polish Investments” could work, could start to work immediately, without waiting until projects are finalised. I would like to mention at this point the pe-riod between the end of 2012 and 2015 – this is when, I believe, we will be responsible for this issue. This sum of PLN 43 billion should be invested in the continuation of the mo-torways and national roads programme. For example, in 2012 we will announce ten-ders for completion of the missing part of Poznań ring road, and in 2013 - for another section of the A1 motorway between Tuszyn and Pyrzowice. In 2013, tenders will be an-nounced for the Marki ring road, as well as for the completion of S7 road between Gdańsk and Warsaw, and for the S19 road between Rzeszów and Lublin. In the years 2014–2015, tenders will be announced for S5 road between Poznań and Wrocław, and S7 between Warsaw and Krakow.

We are also going to invest in the mod-ernisation of railways, and will look for pos-sibilities of EU financing. Modernisation of railways has been one of the most disap-pointing projects in recent years. Poles are disappointed because extremely lengthy railway projects result in extended travel time and in uncomfortable travel condi-tions. We are paying this price, passenger discomfort, because we expect that mod-ernisation will finally produce some effects: we will be able to announce tenders for the purchase of new rolling stock for the Polish National Railways. These tenders are sched-uled for 2013 – theoretically the most diffi-cult year to come. We are talking here about allocating PLN 30 billion for the modernisa-tion of railways in the period between 2013 and 2015.

As you know, the fight for the EU budget is waging. Confident in our effectiveness in Europe, we have declared that PLN 300 bil-lion is a satisfactory minimum. We are talk-ing about the period between 2014 and 2020. This fight for the budget has reached its climax. As I have already mentioned, I will inform the Parliament about the European Council meeting in November, which will be of crucial importance to this battle. I am con-vinced that the Polish ambitions concerning the amount which we indicated over a year ago and which will enable us to maintain the growth and pace of development in Poland, that this plan is feasible – albeit difficult. The difficulty lies mainly in the scepticism of the British and the conservative British govern-ment about the new budget.

* * *

We are also looking for other funds that could be invested in development, which also translates into new jobs, in fields which so far have not always served the Polish labour market well. This is why we have decided – at which point I would like to thank Mr President for support and Minister Tomasz Siemoniak for the initiative – to consolidate expenditure for Polish military security so that as much equipment as possible is manu-factured in Poland. At the same time, howev-er, we want to ensure that Polish manufactur-ers guarantee a high level of the equipment that we will deliver to the Polish army. This is why we will do everything in our power to ensure that this expenditure – which, as you know, we secured by refusing to reduce funds for national defence below the threshold which we accepted many years ago – that it helps to create new jobs. For today Polish se-curity is not just about the planned purchases and manufacturing equipment in Poland. Let me emphasise that I refer to manufacturing helicopters, ships, Rosomak transporters and building the air and anti-aircraft defence sys-tem in Poland, also with the involvement of the Polish industry. Because security is not only about high-quality equipment, it also means jobs resulting from these investments. We are talking about a very high amount. The sum in question is PLN 10 billion between 2013 and 2014, but the planned strategic in-vestments are going to amount to a total of almost PLN 100 billion by 2022. We want the money to work as effectively as possible in these times of crisis.

I would like to strongly emphasise that the Government and the President see eye to eye on the directions of strengthening Polish national security. The security of Poland is possible by close cooperation with the NATO and the United States in setting up the air defence system, including the anti-missile defence system. This is accompanied by the implementation of the NATO Smart Defence idea, or smart common defence, which we are going to develop together with our neigh-bours in Europe and which should also bring about multi-billion investments in the Polish defence system and research centres – we are working hard on that together with our part-ners. This might also include investments by foreign companies.

When adding up these funds, we arrive at the sum of PLN 700-800 billion, which is going to back European funds in this new European perspective. A large part of these funds is going to be invested in the crucial 2013-2014 period.

We are working on a new liquidation law and a new building code. Work on the

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commercial judiciary centre is also underway. Minister Gowin proposed this initiative to consolidate and centralise commercial divi-sions of Warsaw courts so as to enable com-mercial cases to be handled in a swift and competent manner, rather than torment those waiting for a verdict.

* * *

I would like to add – and this is the second issue I want to devote myself to – that in the present time of crisis, the word ‘safety’ has gained a different, more intimate and more personal dimension. It is the safety of the Polish family and Polish children. We have to understand that a family stands for all generations, from the oldest to the young-est. If we want to focus on the safety of the family today, we have to acknowledge that we need to stop the fragmentary and ineffective measures that have been under-taken for so many years – I know it well and that is why I am going to present relevant proposals in a moment. This is the only area where I will allow myself to use the word ‘revolution’ – because this is what Poland needs, a revolution for the sake of the safety of mothers who, together with fathers, de-cide to have a baby. The measures undertak-en so far have failed to bring the expected results. However, we know that successful actions are possible. I will now briefly pres-ent the plan that we want to put into prac-tice already in 2013.

Firstly, and this is the key element, we want to propose extending the maternity leave be-yond the originally planned six months. The extension to six months was to be introduced next year, and was to be the final solution.

However, we propose to extend maternity leave to one year. We are looking at a model that has proven successful in Europe, al-though only one country has decided to intro-duce it, Sweden. Nevertheless, I am convinced that we would not be able to find a better way to quickly improve the situation.

I would like to see the project implemented in 2013. I expect that by 2015 we will defini-tively solve the child care problem in Poland. To that end, we suggest changing the financ-ing rules for building day care centres. We re-ceived many reports from local governments that the current co-financing rules are im-possible to bear, particularly for poorer local governments. Therefore, I suggest changing the proportion from 80% to 20%. Local gov-ernments will have to contribute only 20% when they decide to build a new day care centre.

Also private entities that decide to invest in day care centres will be able to obtain co-funding. It translates into expenditure for new day care centres increased by PLN 50

million in 2013. And in 2014, we will have to spend much more than that. As you well remember, we decided to spend additional PLN 320 million on kindergartens in 2013. We will not stop there, although looking at the increase in the number of places in kin-dergartens we assume that the problem of kindergarten availability, and I do not talk about prices but about availability, will be solved in 100% in 2015. Our task is to achieve a situation where availability stands for a rea-sonable price as well. This is why in 2013 we will increase the subsidy, by PLN 320 million for now.

* * *

I have not mentioned the achievements of several ministers, nor such important proj-ects as “Optimum State”, which is being de-veloped by Minister Boni, based among other on digitalisation projects. It is their task now to win the public and to win you over during their presentations.

I have already mentioned our future in the European Union, filled with more di-lemmas than simple hopes. As I have said, I will talk about it also here in this Chamber, among others, during our attempt at ratifi-cation of and during our discussion about a potential ratification of the fiscal pact; this debate will, in fact, give us a foretaste of the upcoming in-depth discussion on where, at which point, and when Poland is to join this new integration process, the reintegration of the European Union. This is a difficult discussion, which however we cannot evade.

Finally, I wish to tell you, Ladies and Gentlemen, that in the recent years, and also in the last year, I have often heard the opinion that our actions and our propos-als lacked the great romantic vision. In a way, I share this opinion – it really is so. I am not – and I never will be – a special-ist in great romantic visions or romantic elations. As a matter of fact, in these five years, and also in the years to come, if I am given such a possibility, I will have one goal and one dream - I feel that it is the same as goals and dreams – maybe small and mun-dane – of ordinary Poles. Neither a worker nor a shop assistant, a student, a cook, a teacher, nor I dream about victorious wars – wars in our history have been associated more frequently with defeat and have often been lost. We are not filled with any kind of national messianic mission. We are not searching for occasions to make sacrifices. We do not want to prove anything to the world by force. That’s the way it is. My vi-sion consists of small, everyday dreams. I really wish I could convince everybody that each day to come will be an attempt to re-build faith and regain hope of those who are

losing it in the face of the crisis, the faith and hope that cooperation is possible, and that Poland will continue to develop as safe-ly as it has done so far. I believe that these little dreams, these seemingly small goals, form the most all-encompassing vision, and the greatest and most splendid idea. Let me tell you this, Ladies and Gentlemen, I be-lieve we all share a kind of historic aware-ness, we have it in our heads and in our hearts – mine is very intense and I feel it every day – the awareness that for the last odd twenty years we have been racing his-tory. We have been racing for years of peace, for good relationships with our neighbours, and for opportunities of development, of using the European funds, and of strength-ening our position in the Western culture. For twenty years we have been racing time, remember that history has rarely given us so much time. It, however, is really possible that – maybe not in one but maybe in five years – history will show us its dreadful face again – here in this part of the world, just as it did so many times before. I want to stress that we have to be prepared when this time comes, we have to be ready. We have to gain as much time as possible, and in this time that we gain we have to build as much as possible, and invest as much money as pos-sible - in our children, in our roads, in our families and in our workplaces. Whether you like it or not, today Poland is held in high esteem and it is enjoying a good repu-tation; the world has noticed that millions of normal people took to work here some years ago, and proved that Poland can be a role model, and not a whipping boy. This is the vision, the great idea that we would like to put into practice. We want to com-plete this enormous task without too great a pomp, possibly with making mistakes.

In order to do this, I need the trust of this Parliament, I need confirmation that last year’s elections brought about a stable parliamentary majority; we need more trust than the society has now. We will not gain it with one address or one voting. I wish to make such an ordinary human commit-ment to you. Every day we will strive, even harder than we have done so far, to regain your support, your trust, your faith, and your conviction that Poland can carry on as safely as it has done so far. I firmly believe that it can. Even if I have failed so far to do everything to make you believe in it as well, we will strive every day in the coming three years to make everybody in Poland regain confidence in themselves.

Thank you very much, Ladies and Gentlemen. Ms Speaker, I hereby ask you for a vote of confidence – the confidence that I hope for. Thank you very much. ■

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www.bizpoland.plCity Investment News

Kraków beats out 30 cities to land next business services center

Premier Farnell plc has chosen Krakow to be its commercial centre of excellence for Europe. The company is a global leader in high service distribution of technology products and solutions for electronic sys-tem design, maintenance and repair.

The new Centre is providing best in class outbound telesales and telemarket-ing in 22 European languages to Farnell element14’s new and existing customers across the continent. The centre is part of a strategic investment representing Farnell element14’s commitment to delivering a multi-channel service. The centre works closely with the field sales, customer ser-vice support, e-commerce and marketing teams in Farnell element14’s network of offices across Europe.

Farnell element14 began building the team in Krakow during March 2012 and has built a 120-strong, multi-cultural team representing 24 different European na-tionalities. The team has been through an intensive training programme and is now able to fully support the needs of Farnell element14’s European customers.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Kevin Yapp, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, Premier Farnell plc said: “E-commerce through our Farnell element14 transaction-al sites now accounts for more than 75% of our European business and in order to con-tinue to evolve our competitive advantage we have created this centre to ensure our customers receive the best possible service as they continue to interact with us through their channel of choice. We recognise that in an online world good quality conversa-tions and personal interaction are extreme-ly important to our customers. The opening of the Krakow Commercial Centre demon-strates Farnell element14’s commitment to a flexible, multi-channel service that allows our customers to choose the way they buy and engage with us.”

Elaine Barnes, Head of the European Commercial Centre in Krakow commented: “Today’s opening ceremony completes what has been a highly successful start up phase for the Krakow centre. We considered some 30 different European locations before choosing Krakow, thanks to its impressively diverse, multi-cultural and multi-lingual community, which offered a rich pool of high potential tal-ent for us to recruit from. The famous Polish work ethic and strong customer service cul-ture was also a great fit with our own. Poland’s

status as a thriving economy that has escaped the deep recession affecting most other parts of Europe has also been a factor in helping us successfully entice experts from other coun-tries to relocate to Krakow.”

The Farnell element14 brand is now well established in the Eastern European mar-ket where its customers include OEM and CEM’s from high-tech industries such as medical, telecommunications, consumer and automotive.

Kraków receives fi rst tram of new fl eet

Bombardier has handed over the first of a new fleet of Flexity trams to the Kraków Transport Authority. The Mayor of Kraków, Jacek Majchrowski, welcomed the Polish city’s first new tram from an order for 24 units which was signed in 2010. MPK Kraków placed its first order with Bombardier for 14 trams in 1998. The total number of vehicles supplied by the rolling stock manufacturer to the city now stands at 74.

Julian Pilszczek, chief executive of MPK Kraków, said: “We are delighted with the design of this state-of-the art tram inspired by the spirit of Kraków. The ve-hicle’s most prominent features are the blue ceiling with LED lighting, an allegory to the stars in the sky, and the city’s arms with the Kraków dragon on passenger seats. These new, modern trams will shape the future cityscape of Kraków.”

The first public presentation of the new tram for Krakow took place at September’s InnoTrans trade fair in Berlin. Germar Wacker, president, light rail vehicles, Bombardier Transportation, said: “This fourth order in a row confirms MPK’s confidence in Bombardier as a supplier of proven urban transport solutions. ”

Janusz Kućmin, chief country repre-sentative for Bombardier Transportation in Poland, said: “At present, the city of Kraków has one of the most modern pub-lic transport systems in Poland and the biggest fleet of reliable low-floor Flexity trams in the country. I am glad that the trams we produce have become an inher-ent element of the panorama of this beau-tiful city.”

Kraków

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2012 November

www.bizpoland.pl City Investment News

Major industrial restructuring of 50 ha Szczecin Shipyards

Bain & Company consulting firm will assist Towarzystwo Finansowe Silesia (TFS) in the preparation and implemen-tation of the concept for redevelopment of land formerly owned by the “New Szczecin Shipyards” (SSN). The proj-ect is divided into several stages. “The analytical phase will take into account the area’s industrial potential, location, scope of investment, and global market trends”. The next phase of the project will be creation of a business plan and preparation for the implementation of the selected solution.

TFS and Bain will also consult with the local government and regional and local business representatives to take into ac-count the development priorities of the region and Szczecin, and the potential for local companies.

The fi rst phase of the project will be ready in a few months.

For TFS, based in Katowice, in 2010, SSN’s real estate is its most valuable as-set. Among the assets purchased by TFS are three slipways, a quay (length of 510 m) equipped with lifting equipment and storage yards, industrial buildings, of-fice buildings and land with a total area of 50 hectares.

Founded in 2000, TFS is owned by the Treasury Ministry, and specializes in eco-nomic revitalization of industrial areas. The original mission of the company was the restructuring of the steel industry.

Currently, the core of its activities focus on corrective action of distressed assets. Production at SSN was stopped in January 2009 because the European Commission concluded that the shipyards in Gdynia and Szczecin (owned by the Polish gov-ernment) received illegal state aid. Assets of the yard were sold and workers were laid off.

Szczecin

Galeria Katowicka and train station opened – 240 million euro project

In the last days of October, the city of Katowice officially opened its newly-renovated train station and adjacent shopping centre Galeria Katowicka. VIP guests poured in, including former Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek, the Minister of Transport Slawomir Nowak, President of PKP Group Jakub Karnowski, as well as Katowice mayor Pitor Uszok and top man-agement of the Spanish developer Neinver, who spearheaded and bankrolled the proj-ect. Mayor Uszok cut the symbolic ribbon, adding “let’s do everything to keep the new station looking this way, because we all re-member what the old one was like!”

Nicolas Roques from the studio Sud Architectes, who designed and built the

Galeria Katowicka, quietly observed the crowd. “It’s interesting to watch how they discover this place again. Today we have finished just one giant jigsaw puzzle piece”, since construction on additional rails of

the train station will continue. The new station is about 6,000 square meters, and the adjacent shopping center houses more than 250 shops, with parking for 1200 cars under ground.

Katowice

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November 2012


EIB continues to support moderni-sation of Polish railways

A loan of EUR 100 million from the European Investment Bank will finance the modernisation of 58 km of twin track line between Warszawa Zachodnia and Miedniewice to the speed of 160 km/h, and installation of signaling equipment on a 42 km section of the already improved line be-tween Miedniewice and Lodz Widzew.

The upgrading of the line between Miedniewice and Lodz Widzew to the speed of 160 km/h was already accom-plished in 2008.

Another loan of EUR 65 million will contribute to the upgrading of a 32 km-long section of the twin track railway line from Poznan to Czempin in the southwest Poland, which is part of the E59 European Rail Corridor connecting Malmo in Sweden with Ostrava in the Czech Republic through Poland via Szczecin, Poznan, Wroclaw and Chalupki.

The modernised line will make it pos-sible to use trains operating at a maxi-mum speed of 160 km/h. As the European Investment Bank reported, this section forms the second part of the planned

modernization of the 164 km of the E59 between Wroclaw and Poznan, which is ex-pected to be completed by 2016.

Anton Rop, EIB Vice-President respon-sible for operations in Poland, said: “The EIB funds will help to upgrade the railway lines along the key transport corridors in Poland, contributing to an increase of transport safety and speed and improving the environment by promoting environ-mentally friendly modes of transport.”

The current loans are a continuation of EIB’s cooperation with PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A. Including the current loans, the Bank has provided loans to PLK total-ing EUR 1.4 billion to finance railway mod-ernization projects across Poland.

FashionPhilosophy Fashion Week Poland

Lodz once again hosted its FashionPhilosophy Fashion Week, which continues to grow in size and stature amongst European fashion designers and fashion labels. The 4-day event ended 28 October, after showcasing more than 120 collections from mostly young, as-piring fashion designers from Poland’s top fashion schools. The week ended with the fashion show of Dawid Tomaszewski, one of Poland’s best-known fashion designers and a regular at the Lodz Fashion Week. He is graduate of the London Fashion Academy, and studied under Vivienne Westwood in Berlin, and has worked for world-renowned designers and brands such as Sonia Rykiel and Comme des Garcons.

With over 2,000 square meters of ex-hibitions and showrooms, the event is

increasingly heralded as a strong promotion-al event for the City of Lodz, and consistent with its branding strategy of being a city for creative talent. “It’s an amazing promotion for the city”, said Izabella Adamczewska, a co-organizer, “not just the city but for the de-sign schools. Professors and lecturers of the faculty of design from all over Poland come to the festival”. In addition to events at the Łódź Special Economic Zone, the hotel Andels also hosted several events and private parties. Inside the hotel’s rooms, designers such as Maciej Zień, Agata Wojtkiewicz and Natalia Jaroszewska showed off their newest designs for the spring season.

More than 30 collections were featured on “Designer Avenue”, including the Aga Pou designers, Agata Wojtkiewicz, Berenice Czarnota, Grzegorz Kasperski, Basic, Maldoror, Michael Szulc, MMC Studio, Natalia Jaroszewska, Nenukko, Orsay, Biskup Handbags, and Tomaotomo. Not Just a Label, one of the largest online platforms for the fashion industry in the world, showed off the newest collection of Mads Diensen.

Łódź shows off s its new technolo-gies and new Projects At Twin Cities Forum

Within the Forum of Twin Cities, the City of Lodz hosted several partner cities, in-cluding representatives from Iwanow, Kaliningrad, Odessa, Lwow, Rustaw (Georgia), Tampere (Finland) and the Mexican city of Pueblo.

“It is important that our cooperation is not limited to the exchange of correspon-dence, but within the Forum of Twin Cities, I wish that our exchange will be rich - in-clude youth meetings, science and cultural exchanges”, said Lodz’s president Hanna Zdanowska.

The city promotion officials visited several of Lodz’s landmark new develop-ments, including the airport, BioNanoPark, the Barry Callebaut chocolate factory, Manufaktura shopping center, and the EC-1 city redevelopment project.

Łódź

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2012 November


At BioNanoPark, the guests saw prog-ress in the field of biotechnology and nano-technology, including a three-dimensional printer installed in the workshop for medi-cal implants. The device creates shapes that allow one to perfectly fit implants used in facial surgery.

The Barry Callebaut chocolate plant pro-vides confectioneries and chocolates - in various forms - white, black, powder, liq-uid. “When we opened our factory here in 1996, not many people in the international community had heard of Lodz, but now it’s changing. We chose this location because of the great location, close to Warsaw, and presence of universities, which means qualified staff. The city supports us and is a good partner - said Witold Dachniewski, vice president of the chocolate company.

Poznań drops out of race to host 2018 Youth Olympic Games

Poznań, one of the favourites to host the 2018 Youth Olympics, has pulled out of the race to stage the Games due to a lack of financial guarantees. Poznań was bidding for the com-petition for the second time in succession, having narrowly lost out to Nanjing for the 2014 edition of the event by just five votes.

But it has stunningly withdrawn from the race, with the City Council failing to provide the financial guarantees of around €20 mil-lion to organize the Youth Olympic Games, with 27 councillors voting against with only four in favor.

The move comes largely because of Poznań’s spiralling debt problems.

“It is a great shame that the City Council did not agree to the funding guarantees for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games,” said the Mayor of Poznań Ryszard Grobelny. “I’m convinced that the city of Poznań would have been a great host for the event and could have organized a great Games. We deeply regret that this event will not take place in our city in 2018.”

The withdrawal came just days before the candidates for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games were due to hand in their bid books to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at its headquarters in Lausanne on October 15.

But despite the shock withdrawal of Poznań, the bid race remains the most competitive in the short history of the Youth Olympic Games with Buenos Aires,

Medellín, Glasgow, Guadalajara and Rotterdam all still involved.

Poznan Waste-to-Energy Project combines PPP with EU subsidies for maximum eff ect

In order to comply with new national and European environmental standards on waste disposal, a number of Polish cities and regions have commenced (in the current programming period (2007-2013) project preparation for the construction of waste incinerators. The proj-ects are consistent with national and regional strategic documents and the objectives of the Polish Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment 2007-2013, making them eligible for EU grant co-financing, with grant amounts reserved for their co-financing.

Up to PLN 352 million have been pre-allo-cated to the project. The cities of Bialystok, Bydgoszcz-Torun, Gdansk, Koszalin, Krakow, Lodz, Szczecin and Warsaw have already an-nounced plans to build similar infrastructure but only Poznan has so far chosen to go ahead with a PPP structure, although Gdansk, Koszalin and Lódz are also considering pro-curing the infrastructure via a PPP structure.

The waste-to-energy project of the City of Poznan is one of the most advanced cases in Poland of a greenfield project attempting to combine EU funds (from the Cohesion Fund) with a PPP structure. Even though blending PPPs with EU funds is feasible in the cur-rent financial climate, relatively few projects where the private sector effectively lever-aged the project have succeeded in Europe and only one is known to have succeeded to

date in Poland, on a much smaller scale and involving far less complexity.

The development of the project in Poznan is closely followed by the Polish Ministry of Regional Development and the Commission. Other Polish cities are expected to follow suit, possibly in the next EU budget period (2014-2020), if the Poznan case proves successful in terms of both PPP structure and its capacity to blend.

The Poznan Waste-to-Energy Project is subject of a case study that is part of a series being prepared by EPEC on projects that have combined or have attempted to combine EU funds with a public-private partnership (PPP) structure. Much more information can be found under cee-environmental.com, from which the article above is an excerpt.

Hotel Polonez in Poznan acquired by Griffi n Real Estate

A fund managed by Griffin Real Estate has acquired from Orbis S.A. the 369-room Hotel Polonez and an adjacent 4,000 square meter development site, located at Al. Niepodleglosci in Poznan. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Colliers International ad-vised Griffin on the transaction. The Hotel Polonez was built in the early 1970s and has a usable area of 21,000 square meters. The Property is situated in central Poznan near the historic Old Town and in the direct neighbor-hood of the University of Adama Mickiewicza. Griffin plans to convert the Hotel Polonez into a student housing condominium project and the redevelopment of the property will include a 5,000 square meter commercial base. Orbis S.A. has also granted exclusivity to Griffin on another major property located in Warsaw and this conditional transaction is scheduled to close in 2013.

Poznań

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November 2012


Inter IKEA to invest €50 million to create largest Polish mall by 2014

Inter IKEA, the development arm of Swedish-based global furniture chain IKEA, is plan-ning to modernize and extend its Polish shopping mall in Wroclaw to create the larg-est centre in Poland by 2014. It aims to invest more than €50 million in the project.

The refurbishment of Park Handlowy Bielany will almost double the size to 150,000 sq.m., allowing it to accommodate about 200 shops compared to some 80 at the moment. Current tenants include su-permarket chain Tesco and clothing retail-er H&M. The group plans to start construc-tion next spring and open the extension in 2014. “This investment is of huge signifi-cance for us, we have been preparing for it for a long time,” said Mikael Andersson, Inter IKEA Centre Group Poland MD. IKEA plans to demolish its own store in the mall to make room for Park Handlowy Bielany’s extension, and is building a new location nearby to replace it. Inter IKEA manages eight shopping centres throughout Poland, including two in Warsaw.

Volvo shifts European bus produc-tion from Sweden to Poland

Swedish Volvo AB said its Volvo Buses unit is planning to concentrate its European production in the company’s main plant in Wroclaw, following weak market develop-ments and tough European competition, a move that will affect 330 permanent em-ployees and about 60 consultants.

If production is relocated, it is expected that this will negatively impact the Volvo Group’s operating profit in the fourth quarter of 2012 to the tune of about $15 million, Volvo said.

“The demand for new buses in Europe has dropped steadily over the past few years, paralleled by considerable pres-sure on prices, particularly in the Nordic markets,” said Hakan Karlsson, President Volvo Bus Corp.

He said that by concentrating the pro-duction of complete buses in one single plant, the company can reduce costs and thus reverse its negative profitability trend.

The planned restructure means that production at the Volvo Buses plant in Saffle, Sweden, will be terminated at end June 2013, provided union negotiations have been completed by then.

The company forecast volume growth in Europe will remain low in the coming years and that price pressure will continue. By focusing all production on the much larger plant in Wroclaw, Volvo Buses expects to achieve the economies of scale that are es-sential in order to tackle the increasingly tough competition on the market. The plant in Poland has four times the capacity than the one in Saffle.

DB Schenker launches second London – Poland service

DB Schenker Rail launched its second weekly service between the UK and Wroclaw in Poland in early October, when a train loaded with ‘a range of manufac-tured goods’ departed from Barking in east London. Having launched a weekly service in November 2011, DB Schenker has now doubled the frequency in response to ‘in-creased customer demand’.

‘DB Schenker Rail is a pan-European rail freight operator and the strengthen-ing of our services between Poland and the UK clearly illustrates the success of our strategy for European rail freight growth’, said DB Schenker Rail Chairman Alexander Hedderich. ‘Through effec-tive trading corridors such as this one we are able to provide customers with the economic and environmental solu-tions that enable their use of rail freight to increase.’

Operating on High Speed 1 between London and the Channel Tunnel, the DB Schenker service is able to carry 9 ft 6 in high swap bodies that would foul the load-ing gauge on conventional routes in the UK, as well as standard European wagons.

Wrocław

Goodman commences construction of Pomeranian Logistics Centre

Goodman has launched its flagship devel-opment project in Poland, the Pomeranian Logistics Centre (PLC). Located adjacent to the Gdansk Deepwater Container Terminal

(DCT), it is the largest logistics hub of its kind in northern Poland. When completed, it will feature approximately 500,000 sq me-ters of high quality warehouse and light in-dustrial space. Construction of the first fa-cility, a 14,000 sq m warehouse, commenced

in September 2012, with delivery planned for the end of Q1 2013. The total value of the project is estimated to exceed €300 million on completion.

“Due to its excellent location, we are convinced that our Pomeranian Logistics Centre in Gdansk will meet with consid-erable customer interest, particularly as northern Poland still lacks well-located logistics and industrial areas,” said Blazej

Trojmiasto

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2012 November


Lublin Airport looks to secure EuroLOT links

The new airport in Lublin, which will launch with routes from low-cost carri-ers Wizz Air and Ryanair in December, is in talks with EuroLOT and charter carrier Travel Service Airlines to secure additional new air services.

The airport, which officially opens on November 10, will initially have the ca-pability to handle one million passengers a year, but has ambitions to grow to 3.5 million after 2015. Ryanair will fly three times a week to London and twice weekly to Dublin, from December 17. Wizz Air will fly twice a week to both Oslo and London, from December 18. The airport is predict-ing 300,000 passengers in its first year.

Lublin Airport’s CEO, Dariusz Krzowski, said the timing of any airport expansion would depend on the gateway’s initial

passenger numbers. “It depends on traffic. It could be after 2015. Not early than that for sure but we will see. When we hit one million passengers a year, that will be the signal to start further expansion.”

Krzowski added that Wizz Air is ex-pected to form a small base at the airport from next March, and that Lublin was also in talks with Eurolot about starting flights from December 2012.

Ferrovial to build €40m cultural centre in Lublin

Budimex, Ferrovial Agroman’s Polish subsidiary, has been chosen by Lublin’s authorities to build the city’s Cultural Encounter Centre.

The project, worth €40 million, is sched-uled for completion in 2015.

Lublin is Poland’s ninth-largest city and one of the country’s most important aca-demic and cultural sites. The authorities envision the Cultural Encounter Centre as becoming one of the city’s landmarks.

The project requires the partial demoli-tion of a 40-year-old unfinished building and the construction of the new building in its place. The centre will have five floors, two of them underground, and a multifunc-tional hall accommodating 1,200 people.

As part of this contract, Budimex will also refurbish the adjacent building, which houses the Musical Theatre and the Henryk Wieniawski Lublin Philharmonic, and build a new 5,000 square meter plaza and underground car park. ■

Lublin

Ciesielczak, Regional Director Goodman Poland. “Development of the logistics cen-tre has significance for Gdansk as a city aiming to become the main gateway to countries in central and eastern Europe. We are pleased that construction has begun,” said Boris Wenzel, CEO DCT Gdansk.

“The last few years have seen billions of euros invested in Poland’s transport infra-structure by both public and private sector entities. The on-going investment process is a window of opportunity for ports and local authorities in Gdansk to create one of the largest intermodal logistics hubs on the Baltic Sea. The investment has the potential to be-come one of Poland’s main economic drivers, creating new jobs and, as in the examples of Hamburg and Rotterdam, generating signifi-cant revenue for local communities and the state. Goodman’s logistics centre project at Gdansk’s northern port is an integral part of

this vision,” said Alan Aleksandrowicz, CEO Gdansk Economic Development Agency. “The potential customers we are targeting with this development include companies

operating locally, domestically and interna-tionally, across industry sectors including sea transport, logistics, distribution, food and FMCG. Our flexible approach allows us to offer built-to-suit warehouses, production fa-cilities, distribution centres and office areas,” Mr Ciesielczak added.

Deepwater Container Terminal Gdansk toasts its 5th year

Deepwater Container Terminal (DCT) Gdansk celebrated its fith birthday. On this occasion DCT also announced that it has increased its capacity by 25% to 1,25 million TEU with the addition of new stacking areas. The celebration took place on 15th October in presence of the Marshal of Pomerania region, the Mayor of Gdansk and the Presidents of Port Authorities of Gdansk and Gdynia.

“DCT Gdansk was created out of the vi-sion that Gdansk and the whole Pomerania region may shine as major gateways for trade as was the case back in the XVI cen-tury. Many did not believe that this would be possible, but today DCT is already

demonstrating the huge potential for Poland to serve as a major gateway to CEE and to Russia” says Boris Wenzel, DCT Gdansk CEO. “DCT Gdansk development was possible thanks to the relentless sup-port from the local authorities. The close cooperation between DCT and local au-thorities has ensured the development of surrounding road, rail and logistic infra-structure that were necessary to accompany DCT’s rapid growth. To date, 500 jobs have been created in DCT alone and many more will be generated by the 100 ha logistic park project which is now under construction”.

DCT Gdansk was opened in October 2007 and has rapidly developed into Poland’s biggest container terminal with over 57% share in container handlings. The terminal serves Poland, surrounding CEE countries and Russia and is the only hub port on the Baltic Sea with weekly calls of Ultra-Large container vessels.

“DCT’s success is the outcome of hard work of many anonymous people, who were breaking the barriers to build this terminal” said Pawel Adamowicz, Mayor of Gdansk. “I would like to congratulate all the people in-volved in the creation of DCT. I would like to express my recognition to Boris Wenzel for whom DCT’s success is a source of personal pride. I remember Boris’ smile when he was sharing his vision of the development of DCT Gdansk on our last visit to China. DCT is a very important investor and we are more than happy to host it in our region.”

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November 2012

www.bizpoland.plChamber of Commerce News

United States

Stephen Mull sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to Poland on 24 October

“In the 23 years since it regained indepen-dence, Poland has proven itself as an un-shakable ally of the United States, standing shoulder to shoulder with us on the front lines from Iraq to Afghanistan, shining the light of democracy on those dark corners of the world that have not yet won their free-dom, and volunteering to be among the first in helping the NATO alliance defend against the threat of ballistic missiles,” Mull said at his swearing-in ceremony.

Mull began his career in the Foreign Service in 1982 and is currently a Career Minister. He has served in the Bahamas, Poland and South Africa and was the U.S. ambassador to Lithuania from 2003 to 2006.

“Steve was always the first to spring into action, standing up task forces, managing rapid response personnel,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said before Mull was sworn-in, according to a tran-script of the speech. “Whether it was after the earthquake in Haiti, the terrible nat-ural and nuclear crisis in Japan, or, most recently, the awful assault on our post in Benghazi and other diplomatic posts that were threatened, we never doubted we’d get the best response, the most profession-al response because of Steve’s leadership and hard work.”

Australia

Polish - Australian business seminar

In September, a Polish-Australian Economic seminar was organized by the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) and the Australian Embassy in Poland.

Trade between Australia and Poland is not significant (about 270 million Australian dollars) and focuses mainly on the rapid growth of imports of high-qual-ity Australian wine to Poland. However the growing number of Australian invest-ment in Poland should be considered.

Investments in such sectors as mining, energy, logistics and distribution as well as information technology show that Australian companies are taking advan-tage of Poland’s stable investment climate and unique location in Europe. Australian companies are also active in the field of intelligent transportation systems, in the automotive, medical, educational mar-ket as well as service and innovation sec-tors. Polish companies are present on the Australian market in the mining sector. The seminar focused on bilateral economic cooperation, investment, trade coopera-tion and support of Polish companies in-terested in investing in Australia and ex-porting to the country.

Holland

Enkev Polska among best Polish employers

Enkev Polska has been awarded in the Best Employers Study 2012 in Poland. The competition is part of the Best Employers Program (BEP) which is conducted by Aon Hewitt in association with strate-gic partner Harvard Business Review Poland. Enkev Polska took the third place in the category small and medium sized busineses.

“Gaining the title proves the high level of involvement of our staff. We put people in the first place, both our employees as well as the clients that use our products. Therefore we are very satisfied to have won this title”, says Czesław Grochulski, man-aging director of Enkev Polska.

Senator offi ce building the best of-fi ce development in Europe

Polish office building Senator won in a glob-al, prestigious European Property Awards

competition in the Office Development category. Senator is the latest Ghelamco Poland project completed in Warsaw.

The European Property Awards 2012 is part of the prestigious International Property Awards contest, which distin-guishes most spectacular real estate proj-ects. The jury is composed of 60 inter-national specialists. Awards for Senator were personally accepted by Ghelamco’s representatives: Jeroen van der Toolen, Managing Director CEE, and Jarosław Zagórski, Commercial and Business Development Director.

“Senator was a big challenge for our com-pany. The implementation of the build-ing took 6 years of hard work and strong commitment. Now that the building has been distinguished by international real estate specialists as the best European of-fice project we feel particularly honored.,” Jeroen van der Toolen said.

The contest’s final will take place in December 2012, when the winning projects from all over the world will compete with each other. Senator will face projects form Asia, Africa, the Americas and the Arab region.

Business Lease Poland and KBC Autolease Polska merger fi nalized

On August 1 Business Lease finalized its merger with KBC Autolease Polska. With a total contract portfolio of 6,100 cars, the new company is now the seventh largest in Poland in terms of market share.

The final stages of this period saw the KBC Autolease inventory being moved to the Business Lease site, the office space

Senator offi ce building the best offi ce development in Europe

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2012 November

www.bizpoland.pl Chamber of Commerce News

being redesigned and data being convert-ed. Business Lease Group has appointed Richard Heijnsbroek as Managing Director of Business Lease Poland.

Richard (41) has moved to Poland from Slovakia where he was responsible for Business Lease Slovakia. Over the past six years, his success developing the company there has seen it secure a sound market po-sition and brand name, and it is now the third largest in Slovakia in terms of mar-ket share.

Atrium Signs Euro RTV AGV at Lublin Shopping Centre

The Amsterdam-based Atrium European Real Estate Limited, announced that it has secured a new pre-let at its 75,000 sqm Atrium Felicity shopping centre develop-ment in Lublin. As a result of a 1,454 sqm pre-let to leading Polish home appliances and consumer electronics retailer, EURO RTV AGV, Atrium Felicity is 73% pre-let, with over a year to go before the centre’s expected opening in late 2013. This deal follows shortly after a successful corner-stone ceremony last week, to officially cel-ebrate the start of construction, a 12,500 sqm pre-let to Leroy Merlin in September and the pre-sale of a 19,700 sqm hypermar-ket at the site to a major international food retailer in June. Atrium has also secured pre-lets with many other strong retail brands including H&M, Reserved, Mohito, House, and Intersport, as well as Zara, Zara Home, Bershka, Stradivarius, Pull & Bear, Oysho and Massimo Dutti from the Inditex Group.

Kochański Zięba Rapala & Partners represents Newsweek journalist

Kochański Zięba Rapala & Partners is rep-resenting the Newsweek journalist, Cezary Łazarewicz in a case against Stowarzyszenie Dziennikarzy Polskich (Association of Polish Journalists). Newsweek’s jour-nalist Mr. Cezary Łazarewicz is suing the Association of Polish Journalists for nominating him the “Hyena of the Year” for unflattering articles about the father of Lech Kaczyński (former President of The Republic of Poland) and Jaroslaw Kaczyński. The Newsweek journalist demands that the Association of Polish Journalists publish an apology on its web-site, as well as in reputable, and pay PLN 20 000 to the benefit of the Home Hospice of the Marian Fathers (Hospicjum Domowe Zgromadzenia Księży Marianów).

New corporate identity for DTZ

DTZ and UGL Services are now united un-der a single global brand — DTZ, a UGL

company. The new brand reflects the cre-ation of a fully integrated, global company with a unique platform. In creating the new brand, the company has retained the DTZ name acknowledging the brand equity of DTZ, an iconic brand with a legacy extend-ing back to 1784, and capitalizing on the broad market recognition of the special-ist capabilities of DTZ. By combining the DTZ name with UGL’s corporate identity, the new brand captures the endorsement of UGL’s financial strength and reflects the company’s leading expertise in integrated facilities management.

Germany

Matchmaking for Polish companies from the IT industry and metal processing

Polish-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK Poland), Trade and Investment Promotion Section of the Polish Embassy in Berlin and the Chamber of Commerce Regensburg (IHK) invite Polish companies from the IT industry and metal processing to participate in the co-operative exchange with Bavarian compa-nies from the region of Regensburg which will take place on November 26, 2012 in IHK Regensburg.

Switzerland

Polish-Swiss Chamber of Commerce cooperates with Belgians, French and Scandivanian Chamber in the follow-ing two events.

Speed Business Meeting

The next meeting in the series Speed Business Meeting took place on 4th October in Wrocław. The idea of a Speed Business Meeting is to establish direct business con-tacts with a large group of people by having several one-to-one conversations within

this networking model. The next part of the event, a cocktail, provides the opportu-nity to continue previously started conver-sations. The meetings are popular among member companies and plans are that the next event in Wrocław will become a per-manent fixture in the calendar.

International Business Meeting

The event took place on 18th October at the Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź. During the meet-ing a panel discussion on the development of Łódź was held, in which the President

Polish-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK Poland) participate in Matchmaking for Polish compa-nies from the IT industry and metal processing

40

November 2012


of Łódź Mrs Hanna Zdanowska, city busi-ness representatives and international in-vestors took part. The discussion was fol-lowed by a networking event.

Polish-Swiss economic cooperation

President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski visited Zurich in October for the economic forum “Polish Investment Market” . The aim of the meeting was to present the Polish investment potential, as well as es-tablish closer economic relations between the Poland and Switzerland. Swiss com-panies employ in Poland approximately 35,000 people working in particular in the pharmaceutical and chemical sector, machinery and precision instruments. In 2011, exports from Switzerland amount-ed to CHF 2 billion, an increase of 4.6%. Imporst from Poland totaled CHF 1.4 bil-lion, an increase of 6.5%. Poland is the most important market for Swiss direct invest-ment in Central Europe, with great poten-tial in the field of devices, medical technol-ogy and services.

The conference was organized by the Swiss Business Federation - Economiesuisse and the Polish Embassy in Switzerland. The Polish delegation included Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Economy, Mrs Ilona Antoniszyk-Click, Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of the Treasury, Mr Rafał Baniak, PAIiIZ’s President Sławomir Majman and Chairman of Warsaw Stock Exchange Ludwik Sobolewski.

Czech Republic

Poland - Czech Republic Economic Forum

Warsaw’s Hotel InterContinetial hosted the Poland - Czech Republic Economic Forum in mid-October. It was the most important Polish - Czech economic meet-ing in recent years. The event was opened by the presidents of both countries - Vaclav Klaus and Bronisław Komorowski.

The aim of the meeting was to discuss the prospects for the development of con-ventional energy and nuclear projects. Instability of the EU market was also dis-cussed. Among the forum’s topics were

common energy policy and energy proj-ects, investments and trade, with empha-sis on the role and place of Poland and Czech Republic in the economic develop-ment of Central Europe - as well as the promotion of both countries and regions in foreign markets. The Forum was orga-nized by the PTWP Group, the organizer of the European Economic Congress, togeth-er with the Embassy of the Czech Republic and the Polish Ministry of Economy in co-operation with the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency.

Japan

Japanese investors assess Polish investment climate

In late October, PAIZ held a seminar on ‘How to effectively develop Polish-Japanese eco-nomic relations “, with a special emphasis on the appeal of Poland’s special economic

zones to Japanese manufacturers. The Embassy of Japan in Poland, JETRO, and the Shokokai Employers’ Association pro-duced a report outlining the strengths and weaknesses of doing business in Poland, from the perspective of the Japanese.

At the end of 2010, according to the NBP, the cumulative value of Japanese FDI in Poland was over $ 1.5 billion. “Currently, there are about 300 active Japanese inves-tors in Poland, of which 100 are manufac-turing companies, which employ about 40,000 people”, said Makoto Yamanaka, the Japanese Ambassador to Poland.

The report shows that Japanese inves-tors appreciate the scale of the Polish market, geographical location (proxim-ity to both Western markets and Eastern Europe), labor force, and political and eco-nomic stability – as well as the investment incentives that support investment in the Special Economic Zones.

Belgium

Belgian media experience Poland

During the visit, the journalists met Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Economy, Mrs Ilona Antoniszyn-Click, President of PAIiIZ, Mr Sławomir Majman, President of the City of Katowice, Mr Piotr

Uszok and Vice President of the Katowice Special Economic Zone (KSEZ), Mr Andrzej Pasek. Program of the visit also included a meeting with Belgian investors in the Belgian Chamber of Commerce, as well as presenta-tions of investment areas in the KSEZ.

The journalists represented the lead-ing Belgian economic media: “L’Echo”, the Flemish newspaper “De Morgen”, RTBF radio, weekly magazine “Knack” and the newspapers published in French “La Libre Belgique” et “Derniere Heure”.

Study tours organized by PAIiIZ are di-rected primarily to foreign journalists and are designed to promote Poland among the foreign public.

GreenWings under the wing of CFE Polska

The construction of GreenWings. a mod-ern Class A office space, started in early October, and is located on ul. 17 Stycznia, close to Warsaw’s Chopin airport. The gen-eral contractor of the project is Belgian company CFE Polska.

Belgian Days

6-24 November 2012With events spread across three cities (Poznan, Gdansk, and Warsaw), the an-nual Belgian Days, under the Patronage of the Ambassador of Belgium His Excellency Raoul Delcorde, have a packed schedule of business, social and cultural events. This year’s edition will be exceptional – due to the celebration of 20 years of the Belgian Business Chamber. The events being or-ganised for the Belgian Days 2012 will be focused, more than in previous years, on a business dimension. They include: a Sharing Experiences conference, a CEO Forum and a Gala Dinner. During the Belgian Days, two important awards will be presented: the Belgian Business Chamber Award (for the fourth time) and the Best Belgian Exporter Award (for the first time). Cultural events are also provided, among them a Belgian Evening - Mussels & Fries and an Urban Game around the streets of Warsaw.

Belgian Business Mixer in Warsaw

13 December 2012Belgian Business Chamber has the pleasure to invite you to the Belgian Business Mixer, to be held at the State Ethnographical Museum in Warsaw.

United Kingdom

Export Roadshow Seminars, the British Polish Chamber of Commerce (BPCC), Lewiatan along with experts from HSBC, Raben Group and Accace

41

2012 November

www.bizpoland.pl Chamber of Commerce News

organized export seminars for me-dium and large Polish exporters.A series of 8 seminars “Open up the mar-ket and expand the company” aims to show entrepreneurs the benefits of diversifying markets. The event has been covered un-der the honorary patronage of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency.

The events are aimed at senior deci-sion makers in medium- and larger- sized companies who are responsible for export strategy. A total of 8 meetings were sched-uled. The first was held in Lublin on 2nd of October. The next meeting took place in the following towns: Błonie near Warsaw (October 9), Gądki near Poznań (October 16), Wrocław (October 23).

Ireland

Irish footballers win championship

The Irish Chamber football team, against all odds and pre-tournament predictions, have become the champions of the IGCC

2012 football tournament. Having had three draws in the group stages, Ireland went into the knock out stages knowing that an improvement was required, and that is what was delivered. ICC beat Italy in the quarter finals, Germany 2 in the semifinals, and the previously unbeaten Germany 1 in a tense final by 2 goals to 1.

This event took place in the Sinus Club in Wilanow. Marcin Zaporski, ICC Captain, re-ceived the winning trophy from Ken Morgan, president of IGCC. Krzysztof Domogala was awarded top player of the tournament.

Portugal

Round Table Talks

Twice a year, the Polish – Portuguese Chamber of Commerce provides a special op-portunity for its Members to meet and share

their observations with the Ambassador of Portugal. This edition of the Round Table Talks with the Ambassador took place on the 11th October at Westin Hotel in Warsaw. The participants had the opportunity to have an interesting discussion about the current eco-nomic situation in Portugal and Poland, to analyse the data of the trade balance and for-eign direct investment and current business opportunities available in both Portuguese and Polish markets.

ERASMUS Students

The Polish-Portuguese Chamber of Com-merce (PPCC) annually organizes a Wel-come Dinner for the Portuguese ERAS-MUS students that come to Poland for the internship. Each year PPCC gathers around 100 students studying in different cities across Poland that come to Warsaw for this special event, during which they have the opportunity to meet with the PPCC Man-agement Board, Ambassador of Portugal in Warsaw and with representatives of PPCC Member companies. Thanks to this event, the students can make friends with each other, get acquainted with the activ-ity of the Polish-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and spend an interesting eve-ning with Portuguese food and wine. The event will take place on the 7th December in Warsaw.

Canada:

PCCC Fall Business Mixer with Norwegians and Swiss

The PCCC hosted a lively business mixer that included members of the Norwegian Business Forum and the Polish Swiss Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, 25th

October. With over 50 people in atten-dance, the annual event sponsored by law firm MillerCanfield was a success in bring-ing together people and businesses. The evening was opened up by Paul Fogo, Senior Attorney of MillerCanfield fol-lowed by welcome speeches from Tomasz Lisiecki, President of PCCC and of TriGranit Polska. Greetings on behalf of the guests were given by Greg Houlahan, Canadian Embassy, Carsten Nilsen, Chairman of the Scandinavian Chamber and Jarosław Łach, Vice President of the Swiss Chamber.

Hard-coal fi red power plant

Enea Wytwarzanie SA and a consortium of two firms, Hitachi Power Europe GmbH and Polimex-Mostostal, signed an agree-ment for the construction of a new hard-coal fired power unit. The new unit in Kozienice is to up the plant’s power gen-eration output by one third. It will run at supercritical steam parameters delivering the gross power of 1075 MW and the net efficiency of 45.6 percent. Its construction cost will amount to about PLN 6.4 billion gross and completion is scheduled for the second half of 2017. Bireta s.c., a techni-cal translation provider, will provide full translation support for this project. Bireta specializes in projects from such sectors as power, oil & gas and environmental protection.

Trinity expands shelf company services with new Joint-Stock Companies

Trinity is adding Joint-Stock Companies to its growing portfolio of shelf company servic-es. The new service will complement its ex-isting stock of Limited Liability Companies,

Th e Polish-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce (PPCC) annually organizes a Welcome Dinner for the Portuguese ERASMUS students that come to Poland for the internship

42

November 2012


Limited Partnerships and Limited Joint-Stock Partnerships. In Poland, Joint-Stock Companies are an interesting alternative for investors planning to conduct a large scale business activity, offering a lot of possibili-ties with regards to raising capital and reduc-ing operational risk.

India

A business delegation led by B.B. Swain, vice chairman of the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) was hosted by IPCCI in September in Warsaw. During its four-day stay, the delegation interacted with the Polish Chamber of Commerce (KIG), and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IPCCI) . As per the MOU, IPCCI will be the sole representative to promote Gujarat in Poland.

The Vibrant Gujarat Summit has become an example of the visionary approach of the State Government to investment promo-tion and advancement of economic and so-cial development for many states. The event provides enormous prospects to the State to display its strengths, progressive stand, initiatives taken to improve governance, in-vestor friendly climate and art and culture of Gujarat.

The Vibrant Gujarat 2013 (11-13 January, 2013) Summit should be transformational and revolutionary – both in its coverage and scale. It will provide a platform for various states of India and other countries to coop-erate and explore attractive business oppor-tunities. Interested organizations should contact Mrs. Joanna Mazurkiewicz , Director IPCCI at [email protected].

IPCCI also cooperated with Roadshow Poland led by Mrs.Eva Aboo and organized a panel about the BPO Industry in Poland, the role of Indian IT companies based in Poland and 5-year perspectives during the VII Outsourcing Forum held in Warsaw in late September.

Spain

Polish–Spanish Forum of Renewable Energy

The Polish-Spanish Chamber of Commerce together with the Renewable Energy Association celebrated in Warsaw the 6th edition of the Polish–Spanish Forum of Renewable Energy. The event was attended by over one hundred people from both coun-tries: by delegates of high authority, the Deputy Minister of Economy of Poland, Mr. Mieczyslaw Kasprzak, the Ambassador of Spain in Poland, Agustín Núñez, representa-tives 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 aim of the conference was the discussion about the development of sources of energy, the presentation of ac-tive attitude of the pro-investment regions and the profits which are the effect of the investment in the renewable energy. It was the place to exchange experiences and it provided the opportunities to tighten con-tacts and to develop cooperation between Polish and Spanish companies and regions.

During the conference, the experts of renewable energy raised themes such

as the European and National Funds for Renewable Energy Sources in Poland, Changes of the Renewable Energy Policy in Poland, Development of Renewable Energy Sources in Spain and investing in the most attractive Polish regions.

Tarde de Sabores

This event - Tarde de Sabores – Evening of Tastes -.takes place every last Thursday of the month. The Polish-Spanish Chamber of Commerce invites you to an encounter with the Polish-Spanish group with a culi-nary theme.

“How to eff ectively exercise one’s rights in a dispute with the State.”

The Polish-Spanish Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with the member com-pany Kochański Zięba Rapala & Partners law firm are pleased to invite you to par-ticipate in a business breakfast dedicated to international investment arbitra-tion issues. The seminar will be held on 20th November 2012 in Kochański Zięba Rapala & Partners’s offices in Warsaw.

The purpose of the meeting will be to explain the methods and possibilities of claiming compensation from the state, cur-rently favored by foreign investors, namely the initiation of international investment arbitration on the basis of arbitration of-fers included in international investment agreements. Speakers will present situa-tions, supported by practical examples, in which an investor may exercise his rights in front of the international arbitrational tri-bunal. They will focus on the possibilities of claiming compensation by investors in the event of violation by the state of concluded agreements.

The PHIG invites representatives of companies investing in Poland or in a country other than their country of ori-gin. Participation in the seminar is free, detailed information: www.phig.pl. ■

43

2012 November

www.bizpoland.pl Events

Marketing in its broadest sense was the theme of the evening's meeting, held in the elegant surroundings of Glasgow's 29 Private Members Club. Practical advice about selling to Scottish businesses and to Scottish public sector was offered by expe-rienced practitioners.

Public procurement – more transparent, open and predictable than it is in Poland – is an area that should be of interest to Polish businesses in Scotland. The Scottish public sector is spending money constantly on goods and services and there's no rea-son why a firm started by a Pole in Scotland should not be able to supply them at a good price. Pauline Wallace from Glasgow and and Audrey Cameron from law firm Anderson Strathern explained, with exem-plary clarity, what a business needs to do if it wants to successfully sell to the Scottish government or local authorities. “It's so easy for an SME to do business with the public sector in Scotland – the key thing

is to be registered online as a supplier of goods and products,” she said, “which is a simple procedure”.

Over 50 Polish entrepreneurs repre-senting a wide range of business sectors from real estate and construction, to translation and on-line advertising, took part in an event which had as its aim the presentation of business information and networking.

Case studies from successful SMEs – one set up by Poles, Eltech, an electrical contractor which has carried out re-wir-ing a Scottish castle, and Cobb Bakeries, a company from Loch Ness that has grown from being a hotelier to supply-ing tens of thousands of cup cakes for large sporting events. Willie Cameron inspired participants with his story of how Cobb Bakeries managed to deliver 34,000 cup cakes to 34 sites around the UK in time for the opening day of the London Olympics.

Business support guru, Dr Arshi Ilyas, who has mentored around 100 start-ups, talked about the key factors that deter-mine the success of a entrepreneur, and explained how Business Gateway can help Polish entrepreneurs that are growing their firms in Scotland.

Bartek Kowalczyk of Picklemedia, who organises the BPCC business seminar mix-ers, said “It is important that Polish entre-preneurs in Scotland learn how to network effectively. There is still a conviction, car-ried over from the 'old country' that there's something shady about business people getting together.” David Atkinson, who runs a design company, gave some handy tips about selling yourself. A key message was the importance of one's business card, the importance of price, and winning the trust of clients and customers.

The formal presentations were followed by networking, which began with every participant introducing himself or herself to everyone else. The networking part of the evening was popular with participants; during the course of the evening, many new contacts were made – a real estate agent, having bought a new house with her husband, made useful introductions to kitchen and electrical contractors.

The event was sponsored by Bank Santander, MoneyGram, Eltech Electrical Systems and eleMedia. ■

Polish entrepreneurs get together in Scotland againFor the fourth time this year, the BPCC, together with

Picklemedia, has organised a business meeting for Polish

entrepreneurs active in Scotland. The Chamber is actively

working with Polish entrepreneurs north of the border, and

is developing strong links with Scottish institutions working

with business.

44

November 2012

www.bizpoland.plEvents

The second annual Food Forum was held in late October in Opole, with a large range of participants, including food producers and exporters, suppliers to the industry, food scientists, and offi-cials from the local government, includ-ing Ryszard Zembaczyński, president of the city of Opole (pictured here), and ice-cream magnate Zbigniew Grycan (pic-tured here). ■

The FCSR held its annual CEO Breakfast, bringing in more than 50 CEOs who sup-port the Foundation. Held at the Hotel Intercontinental, Bill Chasey took the oc-casion to welcome the incoming General Manager of the hotel, Marten Schoenrock, who has replaced Christian Henkemeir. The FCSR will hold its annual Dinner Dance on 21 January, 2013. ■

Foundation for Corporate Social Responsibility CEO Breakfast

Food Producers Congress – Opole

45

2012 November


Burda International, the

publisher behind Elle,

used the occasion of Lodz

Fashion Week to announce

its puchase of a 25% stake in

Polish ecommerce startup

Showroom.

Polish online fashion marketplace Showroom said there is no official word on how the strategic investment from Burda, which includes well-known international brands Elle, InStyle and Prestige within its 299 magazine-strong stable, will be used. However, the news does come at a time when Showroom — founded earlier this year — is beginning to expand its presence into new European markets beyond its na-tive Poland, so it is logical to presume that Burda will help with this.

Showroom is, as the name suggests, an online platform for independent fash-ion designers to showcase and sell their work. Designers and brands upload pho-tos and post descriptions of the items to the site themselves, and customers buy direct from them too. Currently the site includes items from more than 500 Polish independent designers, and more than 100 fashion brands. The Polish startup is placing great emphasis on Facebook and it offers discounts to customers which help

spread word of the site by ‘liking’ items on its page on the social network.

Commenting on its investment, Burda International CEO Fabrizio D’Angelo said “Showroom is a great concept with fasci-nating development potential for this type of platform in fashion segment. We reach lots of target groups interested in fashion [and this deal] makes an excellent founda-tion for a strategic partnership between Showroom and Burda International.”

Michal Juda and Jasiek Stasz, Showroom’s co-founders said that the deal

will help build awareness of Polish fashion designers overseas.

“We believe that Polish fashion has a great potential. Our designers have a lot to offer and we want to make their voice heard outside of Poland. Thanks to Burda International investment and their great experience we would like to open new door to our designers, especially abroad,” they said.

Showroom landed undisclosed seed funding from Poland-based HardGamma Ventures back in March. ■

Fashion Week Łódź

46

November 2012

www.bizpoland.plEvents

The British Chamber of Commerce held its Annual Ball at the Sheraton Hotel, with many additional attractions, thanks to support from the evening’s main sponsor - HSBC Bank - and of course the BPCC’s 20th Anniversary partner com-panies (AstraZeneca, Atkins, BP, BSI and Provident). In the foyer guests enjoyed the thrill of the casino, tasted the delights of some exclusive whiskies in a whisky

tasting run by The Whisky Society, were offered colourful cocktails by Chopin vodka and British beer from Legends Bar. Sklepcygara.pl provided cigars for guests, International Diamond Corporation pre-sented their beautiful jewelry in glass show cases and additionally a Jaguar XKR stood in the foyer.

His Majesty’s Ambassador Robin Barnett opened the evening with a warm

welcome and a very hopeful speech re-garding Poland’s future as an emerging European market, whilst Antoni Reczek, the BPCC Chairman and Joe Tunney, BPCC CEO, thanked all companies involved in creating the event and encouraged the 250 guests to have a wonderful night. The Charity Auction and Lottery jointly raised 21,320zł and that money is being donated to the Sue Ryder Foundation. ■

BPCC Annual Ball

47

2012 November


In 2012, Poland was the partner country of the International Aviation Exhibition in Berlin. During this year’s edition the most important accomplishments of Polish aviation and aerospace industry were presented. Fourteen Polish companies and institutions had stands, including: the Institute of Aviation, Space Research Centre PAS, the AIR Force Institute of Technology, Wielkopolska Aerospace

Custer, Municipality of Krosno, Rzeszów University of Technology, Office of the Marshal of Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Municipality of Kalisz, Aviation Valley, Office of the Marshal of Lubuskie Voivodeship, Margański & Mysłowski Aircraft Company, Aviation Artur Trendak, Allstar PZL Lider, J&S Aero Design.

Within Polish national stand the confer-ence on the aviation sector in Poland was

held. The aviation acrobatic group Grupa Akrobatyczna Żelazny, which invited by the Ministry of Economy, dazzled the on-lookers. ■

The third Gala “Warsaw Olympic Nights”, organized by the Foundation Feliks Stamm, was held in October in Hala Arena Ursynów.

During the evening trophies were awarded for all “Ambassadors of Sport” Polish Olympic medalists from the London Olympics 2012.

An auction of autographed sports items raised money for the charity “Young Sports Talent”. Well-known sportsmen attended, including Apollonius Tajner, Mariusz Czerkawski, Matthew Ligocki, Tomasz Majewski, Sylvia Bogacka, Sophia Klepacka, Damian Janikowski, Bartlomiej Bonk, Fularczyk Magda and Marta Makowska paraolimpijczycy Warsaw, Gregory Pluta, Dariusz Pender, Małgorzata Jankowska, Raphael Korce and many other great heroes of this year’s Olympic Games and Paralympic Games

LONDON 2012. Honorary Patron of the event was from the Mayor of London, the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, the Polish Olympic Committee and the Business Centre Club. ■

Macaroni Tomato Warszawa opens mens clothing shop

Tatiana Hrechorowicz and Wojtek Szarski recently opened their upscale, Italian mens clothing shop in Warsaw’s swanky Powisle district. Dubbed Macaroni Tomato, the shop aims to fill a nice in elegant mens clothing, including footwear. ■

Berlin Aviation Fair

Warsaw Olympic Nights Gala

Poland Outsourcing Awards7 February 2013

Hotel Intercontinental, Warsaw

For more information about reservations,

jury membership, or sponsorship, please contact

Thom Barnhardt ([email protected]; 508-143-963), or

Wiktor Glinski ([email protected]; 694-492-067)

www.PolandOutsourcingAwards.pl

Premier Partner:

Media Partners:

A Black-Tie Gala Awards and Forum

Recognizing Excellence and Leadership

in Poland’s BPO/Outsourcing/Shared

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