Gov't happy with compromise over Pekao-BPH merger

Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz concluded with a broad smile that, "It was worthwhile to invest in Poland." Alessandro Profumo was not as happy and only expressed his positive opinion about the future benefits from the agreement. The details of the compromise have yet to be made public, but it is already known that the BPH brand will survive. Its 200 (out of 480) branches will be sold to a third party together with clients, deposits and credits. Most probably it will be a foreign investor. Employment is guaranteed until 2008, the Treasury will appoint two representatives to the BPH supervisory board. Analysts speculate that the part of BPH on sale will be worth zł.23 billion, whereas the remaining zł. 33.5 billion will contribute to Pekao's assets, thus creating a bank with higher capitalization than the current leader PKO BP (zł.90.5 billion) (Puls Biznesu, pp. 4-5, Parkiet, p. 1; Rzeczpospolita. p A1, B1; Gazeta Wyborcza, p.1, 22) J.L.