Reuters: BNP Paribas to bid for Raiffeisen Polbank

BNP Paribas, France's largest listed bank, joined Polish state-run lenders PKO Bank Polski, Alior Bank and Dutch ING in the race for Raiffeisen Polbank, Reuters said, citing three sources familiar with the matter. "The list is getting a bit longer with BNP joining in," one of the sources said, while two other people with knowledge of the matter confirmed that BNP was interested. BNP Paribas, which already owns Poland's seventh largest lender by assets, Bank BGŻ, declined to comment on the issue. Raiffeisen also had no comment. Earlier, Raiffeisen Bank International announced it will sell Raiffeisen Polbank, which is the tenth Polish lender in terms of assets, to a bank listed in Poland, as part of a restructuring plan aimed at shrinking its balance sheet and bolstering its core capital ratio.