Erste Bank eyes up acquisition possibilities

Austria's Erste Bank is considering purchasing a bank which operates in the South of the country, said company president Andreas Treichl. He went on to say that he is not interested in any other region of Poland. Banks which operate in that area are ING BSK, BPH PBK and Górnośląski Bank Gospodarczy (GBG), and it was the last of these that recently put its shares up for sale. Treichl revealed that the reason for Erste's expansion plan in the South is it wants to service SME's from the Czech and Slovak Republics. For these companies, the southern region is a very attractive market. It was not revealed whether the bank is already in negotiations over a potential purchase. Strategic shareholders in ING BSK and BPH PBK have announced they are not planning to withdraw from the market. Therefore the most probable acquisition in Silesia is GBG. (Parkiet, p. 3) A.K.