DJ Poland Wants To Control Warsaw Bourse As Minority Holder -Report

WARSAW (Dow Jones)--The Polish treasury plans to change the corporate charter of the Warsaw Stock Exchange in order to be able to maintain control over the business despite selling a majority stake in the upcoming initial public offering, Polish daily Parkiet reported Tuesday, citing a government draft.

Registered shares in WSE that are not converted into common bearer shares before the IPO will have two votes a share during general meetings, the daily says. In practice, the move will give the Treasury, with the 36% of shares it plans to keep after the IPO, full control over the Warsaw stock market operator. The Treasury now has 98.8% of WSE shares.

The voting stock held by other shareholders will be limited to 10% of WSE equity, while investors who don't disclose their capital links with other WSE shareholders will lose their voting rights altogether, the newspaper reported.

Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad had told Dow Jones Newswires in June that the WSE was in talks with a strategic partner that may buy a minority stake in the business from the Treasury after the company's planned November IPO. Soon afterward, NYSE Euronext (NYX) and the Warsaw Stock Exchange said that they had agreed upon a strategic, long-term cooperation partnership that involves the Polish bourse's cash and derivative markets migrating to the universal trading platform supplied by NYSE Technologies.

WSE Chief Executive Ludwik Sobolewski said Monday he believed the Polish government would put its minority stake on the market within two or three years of the IPO.

Newspaper website: www.parkiet.com

-Warsaw Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; +48 22 447 2432

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 27, 2010 02:06 ET (06:06 GMT)

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