Raiffeisen to move ahead with Pocztowy acquisition
Austria's Raiffeisen Zentralbank still plans to take a 25.7% stake in Bank Pocztowy (BP), despite BP's failure to respond to its zl. 102.8 million ($24.5 million) offer by its main shareholder, domestic postal service Poczta Polska, Raiffeisen told the Business Journal.
"We are still very interested in the stake and are waiting for Bank Pocztowy to reply to our offer the ball is in their court," said Aleksandra Kwiatkowska, spokeswoman for Raiffeisen Bank Polska, the Polish unit of Raiffeisen Zentralbank.
Poczta Polska said that its management board was considering the offer but did not know when it would make a decision.
Raiffeisen refused to comment on whether it intended to increase its offer for the 25.7% stake if the bank's two main shareholders, Poczta Polska and Prokom Investment, reject its bid. "This is all speculation in the Polish press and nothing is concrete," Kwiatkowska said. Poczta Polska holds 66.6% of BP and 74.2% of voting rights.
Press reports last week suggested the deal may not go through at all. Before submitting its offer for BP on July 16, Raiffeisen missed three previous bid deadlines in May and June. The Austrians had estimated the value of the bank at about zl. 400 million ($95.2 million), or zl. 102.8 million ($24.2 million) for the 25.7% stake.
"That, however, is way too low; Poczta Polska estimates up to zl. 800 million ($190.5 million)," a Poczta Polska representative told Puls Biznesu daily last Monday. In this scenario, the asking price for the stake would jump to zl. 205 million ($48.8 million).
Analysts speculated that a possible reason for Raiffeisen's delay in submitting its bid for BP was to give Austrian postal group BundesPost a chance to buy Poczta Polska, though the government has said it would not be sold.
Staff writer
