Bank Handlowy announces merger with Citibank (Poland)

Bank Handlowy announced yesterday it decided to merge with Citibank (Poland). The shareholders of Citibank are to obtain 1,350 new Bank Handlowy shares for each share. Citibank (Poland) is owned in whole by the US Citigroup, the world's largest financial institution. As about 86% of Bank Handlowy's shares are owned by Citigroup's subsidiary Citibank Overseas Investment Corp., there will be no difficulties in fulfilling the Polish regulation requiring at least 75% of shareholders agreement for a merger to take place. The representatives of Bank Handlowy said the merger would be completed no later than the end of next year. That merger will create Poland's third-largest bank with combined assets of zl. 27.7 billion. (Prawo i Gospodarka, page 9, Reuters)