Epoka, Pekao-Alliance to be first pension fund merger

The smallest pension fund on the Polish market PTE Epoka will be taken over by PTE Pekao-Alliance according to sources, making it the first takeover on the market. "A preliminary contract has already been signed between companies," said two independent sources. The management of PTE Epoka has been looking for a buyer since July when it found itself on the verge of bankruptcy. The Pension Fund Supervisory Office (UNFE) then warned the fund it would revoke its license. Employees of Epoka say at first UNFE discourages companies from mergers and then forces them to do it. Epoka stakeholders must agree they will not be able to get their zl. 76 million investment back, as according to optimistic evaluations the fund is only worth zl. 20 million. "The whole merger may take a long time due to paper work in UNFE and we will keep on losing money," said an Epoka employee. (Gazeta Wyborcza, page 18)