PKO BP sale to domestic investors aims at maintaining Polish identity

The Cabinet Economic Committee (KERM) yesterday approved a Treasury plan to sell a 30% stake in State-owned savings giant PKO BP. The offer will be open solely to private investors who are resident in Poland. However, KERM did leave open the possibility of increasing the bank's capital and offering shares to foreign investors at a later date. The PAP news agency quoted Treasury Minister Aldona Kamela-Sowinska as saying, "I do not rule out the possibility that PKO BP would increase its capital, with foreign institutions taking part in the issue. But this would take place under one condition - that the State Treasury would retain over 50% of its shares." KERM said in a statement that the government wants to retain the bank's Polish identity. But the statement did not indicate whether local residents would be prevented from selling their shares to foreigners. PKO BP is Eastern Europe's largest bank by assets, and the last major bank in the region to be privatized. Its total assets at the end of the first quarter were zl.75 billion. (Reuters)