Consolidation of Ownership and Market Consolidation: The Role of Relational Investors on the Polish Beer Market 1990 –1999

This paper presents a case study based on a full dataset related to 31 companies operating in the Polish beer industry during the 1990’s. It discusses the impact of privatisation and of secondary ownership transfers on market outcomes. It confirms the critical role played by foreign relational investors in the process of industrial restructuring, and two parallel evolutions: a strong trend towards concentrated ownership and towards market concentration. Companies, which were not initially privatised to relational investors, were typically taken over by them in the later stage. However, the delay led to a postponed restructuring process and a loss of market share.