Business daily Parkiet reports that PM Kaczynski met with PGNiG trade unions on the weekend and revealed after the talks that the state treasury will not sell any PGNIG shares to the company’s employees. Instead PM proposed a compensation for employees which would be paid by the company. No details are available yet.
Our view: At the current market price the value of the 750m shares the government should allocate to PGNiG employees would worth almost PLN 3bn (US$ 1bn). In our view employees are unlikely to be happy with a partial compensation only, so the plan could put a significant financial burden on the company. Although we have serious doubts how the government can legally switch this payment from the state treasury to the company itself, we certainly consider the plan as an emerging risk factor for minority shareholders.