Lurena Investments to acquire Ruch

2010-07-28

Lurena Investments, which is controlled by the Eton Park Capital hedge fund, has announced a call on 100% of the shares of Ruch, a leading newspaper distributor and retailer in Poland. Lurena will pay PLN 10.7 (€2.64) per share, i.e. around PLN 630m (€155.2m) in total. The fund has already signed an agreement with the Treasury in which it promised to announce a call for a 100% stake in Ruch. In turn, the Treasury made a commitment to sell all of its Ruch shares. The transaction must be approved by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK). The second largest shareholder of the distributor is Mennica Polska (the Mint of Poland), controlled by Zbigniew Jakubas, who owns an 11.05% stake in Ruch. Mr Jakubas has not yet said whether he will respond to the call. The Ruch privatisation process began on 3 March 2010.
In the first quarter of 2010, there was an 8.3% reduction in the company’s sales revenues to PLN 893.8m (€220.1m), and it made a net loss of PLN 10.1m (€2.5m). By the end of 2010, Ruch plans to make 20% of its workforce, i.e., 799 people, redundant.