Competition watchdog clears sale of PolCard

The Consumer and Competition Protection Office (UOKiK) has cleared the sale of a controlling stake in debit and credit card services company PolCard to U.S. lottery systems operator GTech Holdings Corp., the Office's spokeswoman said on Monday. The approval of the $60 million deal, initially signed in February, clears the way for PolCard's two largest owners, banks Pekao and BPH-PBK, to book gains on the sale in their first-quarter results. That could significantly boost their bottom-line, which in the past few quarters suffered from sluggish loan growth and surging bad debt provisions amid a sharp economic slowdown. Analysts estimate the sale to boost BPH-PBK's net earnings by zł. 25-30 million while Pekao's by around zł. 50 million. PolCard's other Warsaw-listed owners are Bank Millennium, BRE Bank and Kredyt Bank. The first two have already published their January-March figures. (Reuters) J.K.