Deutsche Bank calls it quits over BIG Bank Gdanski

Yesterday almost 4% of shares of BIG Bank Gdanski (BIG BG) changed owners, most likely due to the sale made by Deutsche Bank (DB). Though representatives of the bank did not confirm this information, DB is rumored to have quit its previous plans to acquire BIG BG. Officials of Portuguese bank Bank Commerciale Portuguese (BCP), which supposedly bought BIG BG shares from DB, did not comment on the sale. The stake traded yesterday was smaller than DB's total stake in BIG BG of 13%. "Deutsche Bank cannot sell the whole stake at once, because a buyer crossing the 10% border would have to call for a public bid," said BRE Bank analyst Hanna Kedziora. BCP cannot buy DB's entire stake without an agreement from the Securities and Exchange Commission (KPWiG) to cross the 20% level. At present BCP owns 14.7% of BIG BG shares. (Gazeta Wyborcza, page 30) M.M.