Raiffeisen may face competition in wake of delayed bid for Bank Pocztowy

Today the deadline expires for the Raiffeisen Zentralbank Group to place its offer to purchase Bank Pocztowy (BP) shares. The Austrian company wants to extend its deadline by a month and is to raise its evaluation of BP's value by 100%. This means that Raiffeisen is ready to pay over zl. 205 million for the 25.7% stake in BP. The reason for extending the deadline lies in the need for Raiffeisen to reassess its offer and BP's need to revalue its own assets. Raiffeisen is thought to accept BP's new estimates and to raise the price offered. However, Raiffeisen's efforts may be in vain as according to Puls Biznesu, Polish Mail (Poczta Polska), owner of Bank Pocztowy, has already selected a new advisor to help them in their search for new investors. (Puls Biznesu, p. 7) M.T.K.