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Poland Confirms Deutsche Boerse's Bid For Warsaw Exchange

WARSAW -(Dow Jones)- Frankfurt-based Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1.XE) is the only one of four potential investors to have answered Poland's invitation to bid for a majority stake in the Warsaw Stock Exchange, the country's Treasury Ministry said in a statement Monday.

The Treasury also received answers from two investors interested in minority stakes, Banco Espirito Santo de Investimento (BES.LB) and Pekao SA (PEO.WA), the ministry said.

Facing a widening budget deficit, Poland's government is in the middle of an ambitious privatization drive aimed at raising 37 billion zlotys ($13 billion) by the end of 2010, and the Warsaw bourse is one of dozens of companies up for sale.

The anticipated privatizations are expected to increase the number of companies listed in Warsaw, having already grown considerably over the past few years.

Earlier this year, the Treasury also invited NYSE Euronext (NYX), Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NDAQ), and the London Stock Exchange Group PLC (LSE.LN) to make preliminary offers.

The list of potential minority investors that have now dropped out of the running for stakes in the Polish bourse includes Goldman Sachs International, Wood & Company Financial Services AS, Concord Ertekpapir Zrt. and Merrill Lynch.

The Treasury wants to sell a stake of between 51% and 73.82% in the exchange to a majority investor and stakes of 0.5% to 10% from a total 22.82%-plus-one- share stake to minority investors.

-By Marynia Kruk, Dow Jones Newswires; +4822 447 2431; marynia.kruk@ dowjones.com

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