PZU and PFR to buy 32.8 stake in Bank Pekao

Polish insurer PZU and Polish Development Fund PFR will buy 32.8 percent of Bank Pekao shares from its owner, Italian UniCredit for PLN 10.6 billion. The remaining UniCredit stake in Polish lender (7.3 percent) will be sold on the market via equity-linked certificates. “Thanks to the finalisation of the transaction, PZU has become the largest financial group in Central and Eastern Europe, being a leader both in insurance and in the banking and asset management sectors. I am convinced that the existence of such a strong financial institution headquartered in Warsaw will have a significant influence on the financial stability and prospects of the sound development of the Polish economy,” – said Michal Krupinski, PZU's CEO. “The acquisition of Pekao's shares is in line with PZU's strategy until 2020, which assumes building a banking group with at least PLN 140 billion in assets and accumulating PLN 50 billion of third party AuM. PZU and PFR will cooperate in order to ensure the effective implementation of Pekao’s development strategy, preserving the low-risk profile of the bank, its strong profitability and a stable, long-term dividend policy,” PZU wrote in a press release. PFR expects to achieve a return on investment in Pekao of above 10 percent p.a. and assumes at investment horizon of at least 3 to 5 years.