Raiffeisen to join Poczta Polska and Prokom as investor in Bank Pocztowy

Bank Pocztowy (BP), whose major shareholders are national postal service Poczta Polska (PP) and Prokom Investment with 66.63% and 33.33% stakes, respectively, will soon acquire a major new investor, Raiffeisen Zentralbank (RZB) of Austria, which according to sources will be granted tomorrow exclusive rights for conducting negotiations. It is unclear why BP did not announce a tender, as many potential investors would then have placed offers. PP holds almost 75% of votes and in fact controls the bank supervised by the Telecommunications Ministry and which, according to sources, came up with the idea of allying the Polish institution with the Austrian bank. “We know that the market was filled with gossip about ownership changes in the structure of BP. I deny such information,” said spokesman of Poczta Polska Krzysztof Baczyk. “Raiffesisen placed an offer to acquire BP shares. I do not know at what stage the talks are...,” said a Puls Biznesu source. It remains unknown how RZB will be brought into BP, but it could be done either by withdrawal of one of the investors from the company or by issue of badly needed new shares. (Puls Biznesu, pp.1,5) M.M.