Archive of articles - July 2000, page 2

Quote of the Week

Review: Le Monde sets new restaurant standards

Three years ago, Norwegian restaurateur Nils Jebens was asked to open a restaurant in Bratislava. He didn't think the time was right, but a visit last Christmas changed his mind."I don't want to go into details," he said during a press conference last Wednesday. "The political situation has changed, there is a lot more foreign investment. We need foreigners used to this type of establishment to set the trend."Le Monde has been up and running since June 23, and according to Jebens, so far, so good. Customers, mostly foreigners, have been filling Bratislava's newest establishment day and night, attracted to what is now arguably the most elegant restaurant/cafe in town."I am convinced that Le Monde will soon be a very prestigious address. No cultural, social, or sports celebrities will skip Le Monde as part of their Bratislava visit," wrote Jebens in a recent press release.

US Steel has 'the keys to the VSŹ car'

Chiefs at the American steel giant US Steel have said they are confident of completing their acquisition of Košice-based monolith VSŽ and taking ownership of the company on October 1.The claim comes amid a furore over the release of figures in the Slovak media concerning a rival bid for VSŽ from one of the largest steel producers in the world, the Indian firm ISPAT, figures which US Steel claims are misleading."Let them speak for themselves. We see them very much as a rejected suitor arriving at the wedding and proposing to the bride," US Steel spokesman Tomas Ferrall told The Slovak Spectator July 20. "We are confident that this deal is pretty much done and that we will get ownership of VSŽ," he added. "US Steel's offer is certainly the better of the two."

Business Briefs

Protection Fund to cover 98% of SKB compensationNafta Gbely boss sacked as shareholders lose confidenceČSOB applies for construction savings licenceFirst half car sales down 22.5% year-on-year

Film Clubs fill void created by Hollywood overkill

A quick check of the movies offered in Bratislava theatres over the upcoming weeks reveals 23 choices. Of those 23 films, 21 were made in America, ranging in character from the wildly experimental Fight Club to the less cerebral Gone in Sixty Seconds, a film about handsome car thieves. As is the case in most countries on planet Earth, America has achieved a near stranglehold on Slovak cinema.Fortunately, 'near' is the operative word here. Thanks to the efforts of Slovakia's film clubs, other films - such as smaller-budget, more artistic foreign and domestic works, movies which are less Hollywood and often more intelligent - are offered to those in the viewing public who crave a bit more than guns, dinosaurs, and more guns in their film-going experience. Such films appeal to groups of loyal viewers too small in number to be catered to by commercial theatres.

Top Pick: Pohoda 2000 - International Multicultural Festival

Pohoda, the 'Well-being festival', offers participants a wide range of activities to enjoy, such as top musical performances, film shows, art exhibitions and alternatives sports. Organised for the fourth time this year, the purpose of the festival is to create an easy-going atmosphere among international and young generations.The two-day festival begins on July 21 in the beautiful northern Slovak city of Trenč'n. Pohoda 2000 will host more than 60 bands, mostly from Slovakia and the Czech Republic, but also from the US and other central European countries. Bands include Girl Eats Boy (British), Sofa on the Decks (Austrian), Korai Orom (Hungarian), Vinx (American), and Hex, Vidiek, and Žena z Lesoparku (all Slovak),

Earthquake fails to shake some sense into governments

Sometimes it takes an earthquake to shake us out of our complacency and that's exactly what happened yesterday [July 11] at 4:45 am. At first I thought I was having sex, but there were no other indications of that apart from the bed moving back and forth. I got out.I'm used to small earthquakes after nine years in Southern California, three of them spent living 100 feet from the San Andreas fault, but there was still a moment of disbelief when I heard the express train coming and felt the room shake. Later, I thought maybe I'd gone to bed too early and not had enough to drink the night before. I had to jump in the bathtub and drink a cup of hot tea to get the adrenaline back down to normal levels.

Cabinet turns to IFC, EBRD to aid bank sale

In a move aimed to instill investor confidence in a dragging privatisation process, the government has offered a 17% stake in one of Slovakia's largest banks, Všeobecná úverová banka (VÚB), to both the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).Announcing the start of the next phase in the privatisation of VÚB, along with Banka Slovakia and savings bank Slovenská sporiteľňa (SLSP), managers of the sale J.P. Morgan said the involvement of the institutions in the bank prior to its privatisation would meet government goals for transparency."These institutions [IFC and EBRD] provide certain assistance in transforming banks for privatisation. We want to get that sort of input into VÚB as quickly as possible," Walter Schussel, managing director at J.P. Morgan told The Slovak Spectator July 11.

'Assisted reproduction' gives hope

Silvia Veľká (30) has spent the last 12 years with ovarian cysts, a condition which had made it impossible for her to bear children. Frustrated by her apparent infertility, she went to Iscare, an Israeli firm with a centre in Bratislava which specialises in "assisted reproduction" through artificial insemination.Today, Veľká can hardly mask her euphoria - she's pregnant. "I never imagined I'd be able to have children," she said ecstatically shortly after learning of her pregnancy in June. "I'm so happy, and my husband is incredibly happy, too."Veľká underwent a process known as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), explained by Iscare gynaecologist Jozef Valky as the "basic procedure" of taking a woman's egg and a man's sperm, placing them under a microscope and waiting for natural fertilisation to occur. If successful, the fertilised egg is placed in an incubator for maturation.

This Week

Slovak TV stations in tune with politics

Recent developments on the Slovak television scene have raised new accusations of political influence behind certain stations, and promise to be as entertaining as the on-air content itself.TV Mark'za, by far the nation's most watched station, finally settled out of court its operating license dispute with the Gamatex firm, thereby solidifying its spot atop the nation's ratings. The tiny late-1999 start-up TV Luna, formerly financed by the controversial Slovak-Russian financial house Dev'n banka, has found a new foreign investor after the bank nearly collapsed last month. Meanwhile, Martin Lengyel, a former advisor to Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda, has announced his own plans to enter the TV fray by launching his own station.

SCP to be part of European colossus

One of Austria's largest names in the pulp and paper industry, Neusiedler AG, announced June 29 that it is to acquire the Slovak paper mill Severoslovenské Celul-zky a Papierne (SCP) Ružomberok, one of Slovakia's largest firms, in a move expected to form a colossus in the European office paper market.The Austrian business, owned by one of the world's top paper producers, Mondi Paper, based in South Africa, won out over eight other companies vying for the SCP purchase. SCP shareholders approved a 500 million crown bond issue on June 29 to give the official nod of approval to the deal.The final hurdle for the acquisition lies with clearance from the Slovak Anti-Monopoly Office. But while a decision is expected in the next few months both SCP and Neusiedler are looking to the future expectantly.

Romanian expats finally returning to native Slovak soil

Slovakia and Romania have several things in common: both countries are experiencing post-communist economic and political growing pains, both voted out populists in favour of Western-oriented coalitions (Romania in 1996, Slovakia in 1998), and both have a history of being under the thumb of one foreign dynasty after another."Our nations had the same goal [for many years]," said Romanian President Emil Constantinescu in an address in Bratislava on June 6. "Each of us wanted to claim our identities from a state occupied by Hungarians."Years of subjugation under the Austro-Hungarain Empire have given the nations a symbolic bond, while a policy of one of its monarchs, Maria Theresa, established a direct link: nearly 200 years ago the Austrian queen promised Slovaks arable land, religious freedom and a five-year tax holiday in the western corner of Romania. Tens of thousands took advantage of the opportunity.

SARIO promising to bring vital FDI

With more money, more manpower and a more comprehensive programme, the newly formed SARIO agency is hoping to provide vital support for investments into Slovakia and exports as it absorbs the former Slovak National Agency for Foreign Investment and Development (SNAZIR).SARIO, following the approval of its creation on June 26, takes over where SNAZIR left off, joining six government ministries along with the National Property Fund privatisation body and the office of the government. The agency, through greater resources and broader lines of communications between the different government bodies than its predecessor, hopes to address some of the criticisms levelled at SNAZIR in the past and attract more FDI to the country.

Communications Tech

"Tomorrow is here". Thus begins an article written by Nick Lippis from Strategic Networks. The article continues: "The traditional circuit-switched voice networks - long the domain of a few telcos - have given way to a packet-switched IP infrastructure. And IP is enabling unrivalled gains in capacity, speed, and price/performance. Sceptical? Consider this: The Internet already boasts more switching capacity than the public phone network. Factors like competition, deregulation, and low-cost capital (cheap money) have rewritten the rules for service providers, opening the door to profitable new value-added services, innovative businesses and streamlined operational models."There is no doubt we are living in a whole new world - a world where all business, industrial and political relations have become more and more globalised. The impacts on the telecommunications industry and service providers are growing daily.All these changes are bringing new opportunities for telecom operators and service providers to offer solutions that anticipate customer needs, wherever and however they operate in the world. Never has this been more critical than in today's rapidly transforming business environment, where the flexibility to use new technologies and new business tools is the key to success in the global marketplace.

Business Briefs

OMV Slovensko grosses 45.26 million in Q1Antitrust Office opposes UPC Slovensko dealLarge foreign investors set up business council

Privatisation - key issue for the Slovak banking sector

Banking sectors in the Visegrad Four countries (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic) have been facing the same challenges, although not at the same time, ever since the fall of communism in 1989.After 1989 the number of new banks, branches and employees started to grow rapidly. The transformation of the entire economy, including the creation of an institutional framework, had a major impact on these banking sectors. But privatisation of the corporate sector, which was financed mainly by domestic banks, caught these very same banks off guard; since they lacked the requisite banking skills, bad loans grew significantly.The state banks were also unable to resist political pressures, leading to some dubious practices and the ultimate deterioration of these financial houses, to the extent that governments were forced to sell them.

News Briefs

Rudolf Schuster's condition improving in AustriaRoman Kováč appointed as new Health MinisterModerate tremor quakes western Slovakia

Wave of ownership changes sweeps Slovak print media

The month of July has seen changes in the ownership schemes of three of the nation's largest daily newspapers: Národná obroda, Práca, and Sme. Of the deals, insiders said that only one could be considered "standard."Print media observers said that the Slovak media was viewed by international investors as a promising area of investment because the companies owning the print media were in a general state of struggle. They added, however, that the newcomers investing into Národná obroda and Práca were unlikely partners, and that they were likely making efforts to purchase Slovak papers as a means of turning them into political mouthpieces."The quality of Slovak press companies is poor," said Ján Füle, head of the Slovak Syndicate of Journalists. "This makes it a good target for potential investors. But there are two kinds of investors: standard and non-standard. If you look at the investors into Práca and Národná obroda, they represent the latter because they have no previous experience in media."