Poland Is the First in the EU to Take Two Companies from Russians
Poland has decided to place Boerner Insulation and Boerner Service, co-owned by Russian oligarchs Sergey Kolesnikov and Igor Rybakov, under compulsory administration.
This was reported by Polska Agencja Prasowa.
"We are not stopping the process of blocking Russian capital," said Minister of Economic Development and Technology Waldemar Buda. He added that he had decided to introduce temporary compulsory management in companies associated with Russians: Boerner Insulation and Boerner Service.
Both companies are on the sanctions list of the Minister of the Interior and Administration.
"Boerner Insulation sp. z o.o. is a manufacturer of building insulation materials, mainly mineral wool. The company employs about 200 people at its plant. Boerner Service sp. people," the Ministry of Economic Development told PAP.
"We are the first country in Europe to introduce the institution of temporary compulsory administration. Today, I have made another decision to introduce it," said Waldemar Buda, head of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology.
According to the minister, this time it concerns construction companies employing around 250 people.
"We are opening up the possibility of their work, creating conditions for doing business, and therefore for saving jobs," he stressed.
Temporary compulsory management may be imposed by the Minister of Economic Development and Technology on an enterprise included in the sanctions list of the Minister of the Interior and Administration "if it is necessary to ensure its operations in connection with the need to save jobs, provide services to the public or perform other tasks of a public nature," the minister said.
This measure, he added, can also be applied when it comes to protecting the economic interests of the state.
The introduction of interim administration in companies linked to Russians is not the first such decision.
On 11 October 2022, interim management was introduced in the gas company Novatek, owned by Russian oligarch Leonid Mikhelson, on 4 November 2022 in PJSC Gazprom, and on 11 July 2023 in three companies owned by Vyacheslav Kantor: Norica Holding S.a.r.l, located in Luxembourg, Opansa Enterprises Limited and Rainbee Holdings Limited in Cyprus. Through them, the Russian oligarch controlled 19.82 per cent of the shares of the state-owned Azoty.
This is a Polish chemical industry enterprise located in the Tarnów Moscice district of the city.
It is currently the largest chemical holding in Poland, as well as the leading chemicals company in Europe, where the concern is the second largest producer of mineral fertilisers and melamine, the third largest producer of complex fertilisers and the fifth largest producer of plasticisers and polyamide 6.