PKO BP plans to bid for Raiffeisen Polbank - Bloomberg

Poland’s largest state-controlled lender PKO Bank Polski plans to bid for Raiffeisen Bank Polska "as the state-run company seeks to reinforce government efforts to boost domestic ownership of the financial industry," according to Bloomberg. "Raiffeisen’s Polish assets, including its corporate banking unit, wouldn’t overlap much with PKO’s existing business, according to a person familiar with the process. The deadline for placing non-binding bids is the end of June, and then investors will have until early September to submit final offers," Bloomberg informed, quoting person with knowledge on the matter. The sale of its Polish unit is a key aspect of Raiffeisen’s plan to restore its capital ratios after posting a record loss in 2014. PKO has PLN 267.1 billion in assets, Raiffeisen also has the equivalent of PLN 12 billion in foreign-currency mortgages, which it plans to keep, Bloomberg estimated. Both PKO spokesman and Lukasz Swierzewski and Raiffeisen spokeswoman Susanne Langer declined to comment on the information. PKO BP, the leader in Polish banking, has been listed on the WSE since 2004. Raiffeisen Bank Polska has been operating in Poland since 1991.