Invest-Bank reported to be in talks with Spanish banking giant BSCH

Spain's biggest bank, Banco Santander Central Hispano (BSCH), is reported to be interested in a takeover of Invest-Bank. Representatives of BSCH, which o perates in several countries and controls assets of some euro 350 billion, a re said by unofficial sources quoted by the Rzeczpospolita daily to have met with Invest-Bank yesterday. Invest-Bank, with net losses of nearly zl.15 mil lion in 2000 and with the Bank Supervisory Commission (KNB) demanding that i t obtain a fresh injection of capital, is keen to find a partner as soon as possible. Earlier negotiations with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) broke down when Invest-Bank owner Zygmunt Solorz, following consultat ions with the KNB, decided that CIBC's intermediary was untrustworthy. Solor z is quoted as saying, "We must find a partner, as Invest-Bank needs to rais e capital from other sources, not just our own." (Rzeczpospolita, p. B5) M.K .