Government confirms possible BH sale
"The government is considering allowing Bank Handlowy to list at least 20% of its shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange after 1997," the government press office said in a statement.
The announcement, while short on details, gives some insight into the government's motives for waving a prize bank in front of the eyes of potential investors.
According to the European Union association agreement, the deadline for opening up the Polish banking sector to foreign competition is 1997. But Kalicki personally changed the government's press release to read 1999 as the deadline for lifting restrictions on foreign banks.
"This could simply be a quid pro quo," said one analyst at an international financial institution who requested anonymity. "They don't want to open up the system by 1997, and I agree with them. Polish banks simply aren't ready for the competition."
Extending the EU deadline is not the only area where the Polish government would like to gain some leniency from western partners.
Last month Finance Minister Grzegorz Ko*odko suggested that the selling of BH and Pekao could be used as a lever for renegotiating terms of the $600 million Bank Privatization Fund. Western governments agreed to chip in the money, provided Poland privatize the nine regional banks carved out of the National Bank of Poland by the end of 1996, a deadline the government admitted it cannot meet.
"It's normal that some distinguished officials would play some games," said Les*aw Paga, managing partner of Deloitte & Touche and former president of the Securities Exchange Commission.
The announcement, while short on details, gives some insight into the government's motives for waving a prize bank in front of the eyes of potential investors.
According to the European Union association agreement, the deadline for opening up the Polish banking sector to foreign competition is 1997. But Kalicki personally changed the government's press release to read 1999 as the deadline for lifting restrictions on foreign banks.
"This could simply be a quid pro quo," said one analyst at an international financial institution who requested anonymity. "They don't want to open up the system by 1997, and I agree with them. Polish banks simply aren't ready for the competition."
Extending the EU deadline is not the only area where the Polish government would like to gain some leniency from western partners.
Last month Finance Minister Grzegorz Ko*odko suggested that the selling of BH and Pekao could be used as a lever for renegotiating terms of the $600 million Bank Privatization Fund. Western governments agreed to chip in the money, provided Poland privatize the nine regional banks carved out of the National Bank of Poland by the end of 1996, a deadline the government admitted it cannot meet.
"It's normal that some distinguished officials would play some games," said Les*aw Paga, managing partner of Deloitte & Touche and former president of the Securities Exchange Commission.
