Pekao-BPH merger deal delayed for a further few weeks by government move

"Public interest - this is the only thing that matters," said Zyta Gilowska, deputy prime minister who was representing the government during the meeting. The government achieved what it planned and again the final decision was postponed, but this time by three weeks. Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz announced that the meeting with UCI's president Alessandro Profumo would be possible on Friday. At the same time, The Italian institution modified its bid for BPH and now they would like to take control of 66-76% of shares instead of the previously planned 75%. "We will be closely looking at each attempt to block transnational mergers by the national governments," said Neelie Kroes, EU competition commissioner. (Parkiet, p. 1; Rzeczpospolita, p. A1) M.M.