Bank Austria-Creditanstalt to acquire stake in BPH PBK

Bank Austria-Creditanstalt (BACA) is to take over an 18.95% stake in BPH PBK, at a cost of EUR439 million. The shares will be taken over from Germany's second largest bank, HVB Group, which is a strategic investor in the Polish and the Austrian company. In accordance with the strategy of HVB Group, all operations in Central Europe will be carried out by BA CA, which currently controls a 52.2% stake in BPH PBK, after acquiring an additional 9.1% of shares last year. The public offering of up to 18.95% of BA CA shares, now being prepared, will not be executed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) as previously anticipated; however, Polish investors can take part in the transactions and acquire the shares through the bank's domestic division. BA CA shares are to reach the WSE this fall in the form of Polish Deposit Receipts. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B7) A.K.