Botched BOŚ takeover forces SEB out
Sweden's Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) has sold its 47.5 percent stake in Poland's Bank Ochrony rodowiska (BOŚ ) after its bid to gain a controlling stake in the bank failed. BOŚ' share price rose 20 percent on the news.
SEB sold its shares to Poland's National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFOŚiGW), which owns 44.7 percent of BOŚ' shares, for SEK1.4 (zł.0.57) billion.
SEB's executive vice president and head of Eastern European banking, Mats Kjaer, said: "As we have not been able to achieve a majority ownership, the prerequisites for providing our full authority and capacity in the bank are not in place. It was not a long-term option for SEB to continue holding a minority ownership position."
SEB launched its takeover bid for BOŚ in September, offering to pay zl.73 per share.
Espen Bruu-Syversen, an analyst at ABG Sundal Collier, says that SEB's inability to acquire a majority stake in BOŚ meant that things hadn't gone exactly according to plan. "It was a shame it couldn't make it," he said.
SEB said that it still considers Poland to be an important market and that it will meet the needs of its corporate clients by opening a branch in the country.
"They will seek corporate clients rather than individual," said Artur Szeski, a banking analyst for Pekao. He says that based on the bank's current business, a branch network would be surplus to requirements: "They wouldn't need it for what they seem to be focusing on now."
The company said the deal should be finalized when required permits were received, but no later than by the middle of 2006. (Reuters)
