Hestia to buy TU PBK and PTE PBK by year's end?

According to unofficial information, the insurance company Hestia has made an offer to buy Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeniowe PBK (TU PBK), the property insurer, and pension fund PTE PBK. The two companies supposedly will be be sold together. The transaction should be finalized at the beginning of December this year. Both Malgorzata Makulska, vice-president of Hestia Insurance, and Marek Klucinski, PBK spokesman, refused to comment. Most likely Alte Leipziger Europa or Munich Re will assist Hestia in buying TU PBK and PTE PBK. Alte Leipziger Europa controls 54% of Hestia's shares, while Munich Re is the major shareholder in Alte Leipziger Europa. Within the Polish companies of Creditanstalt group, which includes PBK, there are two companies specializing in the field of property insurance, TU PBK and Heros. Since the merger between them did not succeed, a decision was probably made for PBK to withdraw from TU PBK. It is possible that PBK plans to sell both the insurance company and the pension fund together, anticipating a better price. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B1)