The Ministry of Treasury sold a 46.7% stake in the Polish hard-coal mine LW “Bogdanka” S.A. for over PLN 1.1 billion. The transaction was made through the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW). Placed on sale by the Ministry, the shares were acquired at PLN 70.50 per share, divided between all of the Polish Open Pension Funds.

Lubelski Węgiel “Bogdanka” S.A. made a spectacular debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on 25 June 2009. Following the sale of another 15,882,000 shares, the company became a private entity, with only a small number of shares (4.3%) remaining in possession of the Treasury.

The Minister of Treasury decided to offer the entire stake in LW "Bogdanka" S.A. for acquisition by the Open Pension Funds due to their special role in the Polish economy and the long-term approach to capital investment in Poland. All 14 funds operating in Poland participated in the sale. This positive response from the companies which have a huge impact on the future wellbeing of millions of Polish citizens and therefore are extremely cautious with developing their investment portfolios proves that the evaluation of LW “Bogdanka” S.A. turned out very positive.

The distribution of employee shares begun on 9 March 2010 and will be finalised by 9 March 2012. The stake earmarked for employees amounts to 3,243,000 shares to be distributed among 3917 individuals included on the final list of employees eligible for the free of charge acquisition.

Two stages of privatisation of LW “Bogdanka” S.A. were included in the Privatisation Programme 2008-2012 developed by Mr. Aleksander Grad, Polish Minister of Treasury. Both stages were scheduled to take place in the first part of 2008. Although the first stage – the IPO made through GPW, took place in 2009 – one of the most difficult years for the financial markets, it turned out to be a hugely successful deal, with Treasury proceeds amounting to PLN 528 million. Further privatisation measures with respect to LW “Bogdanka” S.A. were included in the list of key enterprises earmarked for privatisation in 2009 and 2010 which was published in the summer of 2009.

So far this year, the second stage of privatisation of LW “Bogdanka” S.A. brought over PLN 5 billion to the Polish budget out of PLN 25 billion of the expected proceeds out of privatisation activities for this year, as set forth in the Budget Act 2010.