(Bloomberg) -- Lawmakers from Poland’s ruling party asked the government to investigate whether a deal by Polish media group Agora SA and a fund backed by billionaire George Soros to buy the country’s second-largest radio station doesn’t circumvent competition rules.
Last month Agora agreed to buy 40 percent of Eurozet sp. z o.o. for 131 million zloty ($35 million) from Prague-based Czech Media Invest AS, with Soros’ SFS Ventures taking 60 percent. The deal included a call option for Agora to buy out the fund within 36 months.
Website wpolityce.pl published a letter from Law & Justice party lawmakers alleging that Agora -- whose coverage is often critical of the government -- may in fact be the “leading” entity in the deal because of the call option. This could be aimed at “diverting the attention” of regulatory bodies, such as National Broadcasting Council and the competition regulator.
Law & Justice officials, who have been accused by the European Union of extensively eroding democratic standards since taking power, have warned that they don’t want Soros to buy the radio station, which has a nearly 13 percent of the market. Polish newspapers had reported before the deal was announced that that pro-government publishers, some backed by loan guarantees from state-owned banks, were interested in buying Eurozet as part of the ruling party’s efforts to “re-Polonize” the media industry.
Agora shares rose 1.3 percent to 11.5 zloty, while Warsaw’s WIG20 index advanced 0.5 percent.
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