Galery

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Poland had a list for privatization of 800 companies, 500 of which are now fully privatized. A substantial part of the investors included in the process are ordinary people (retail investors). They are the ones who could provide immediate cash flows, but their capabilities are limited. They act through the stock exchange and the state balances the values, so that the shares are available for this type of investors and to attract more people. Nevertheless, really important investors are the major international investment funds, because internal equity is limited and large funds have almost unlimited resources. It takes aggressive policy to attract global investors who are able to breathe new life into old enterprises and make new ones.

"You should work with international consultants. They are the people who can help you make your country an attractive investment," was the other advice of the Polish Minister of Finance. They have a real vision of market trends and are able to quickly reform the image and structure of state enterprises and provide good ideas for optimizing the public system itself so as to facilitate the access of foreign direct investment.

The last and most difficult task, according to Krzysztof Walenczak, is making a realistic evaluation of the cost of assets for sale. Very often the sellers are prone to overestimate the sold asset, which finally turns to be unprofitable for the buyer and he may lose interest. "To reach your goal of accumulating 50 billion euros over the next five years, you should consider that you may need to work with the same investor for several different deals. So, be ready to make a correct assessment in order to keep your customers or they would not get back to you." At the end of his speech, the Polish Minister of Finance recommended to his Greek counterparts to strictly implement the planned program and take care to promote the process itself to the society. "People need to understand why privatization is needed and then they would support it." Poland is an example of this as about 60% of the population there supports the privatization and the figure has doubled compared to five years ago.