Bank Wlasnosci Pracowniczej (BWP)

completed

Summary Of Project Information (SPI)Project NamePoland - Bank Wlasnosci Pracowniczej S.A. (BWP)     RegionEuropeSectorProject No008197Projected Board DateMay 5, 1998Company NameBWPTechnical Partner and/or Major Shareholders Unibank (Denmark) 26% IFC 20%Project Cost Including Proposed IFC Investment US$15 million; IFC equity US$2 million; IFC Loan US$5 million.Location of Project and Description of Site Headquartered in Gdansk, with 6 branches nationwide.Description of Company and Purpose of Project The project will support the privatization and expansion of Bank Wlasnosci Pracowniczej (BWP, the Bank), a small regional bank based in Gdansk and indirectly controlled by the state, which has successfully focused on lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMSEs). BWP is also a pioneer in privatizations involving employee buyouts. Notwithstanding its success in these specialty niches, BWP falls short of new Polish minimum capital standards coming into effect by end-1998. In addition, the Bank aims to expand geographically. As part of BWP’s privatization, and in order to support BWP’s management and systems - which could get stretched if BWP expands significantly - IFC has introduced BWP to a potential technical partner, Unibank (UB), a Copenhagen (Denmark) based bank focused on SMSE lending, which will co-invest in BWP alongside IFC. The IFC credit line would be on-lent to SMSE’s     Environmental Category and Issues This is an environmental review category FI project. BWP will be required to screen all loan applications for excluded activities. For project finance, BWP will be required to undertake an environmental review of eligible borrower’s environmental performance and each sub-project’s compliance with the Government of Poland environmental, health and safety laws, regulations and standards, as well as applicable World Bank policies and guidelines     Date SPI sent to InfoShop      April 3, 1998“This Summary of Project Information is prepared and distributed to the public in advance of consideration of the proposed transaction by the Corporation’s Board of Directors. It is provided for the purpose of enhancing the transparency of IFC’s activities and should not be construed as presuming the outcome of IFC Board consideration.”For Additional Information contact: Corporate Relations Unit -telephone: (202) 473-7711facsimile: (202) 974-4384