RZB leaves options open while considering deal with Bank Pocztowy

Plans by Raiffeisen Zentralbank (RZB) of Austria to acquire a 66% stake in one of Poland's smallest commercial banks, Bydgoszcz-based Bank Pocztowy (BP), are under threat because of demands by BP's majority shareholder, Poczta Polska, for a share of RZB's profits. Poczta Polska alone finds itself unable to capitalize BP. However, it believes that the capitalization can be achieved with a sector investor, which could sell its products in the 90 BP branches and the 7,000 branches of Poczta Polska. Such an option is very attractive for RZB, which launched retail services on the Polish market at the end of 2000 and now has 34 branches in the country. However, a stumbling block to an agreement is the demand by Poczta Polska for a share of all the profits from the sale of RZB's products in Poland, an idea that the Austrian bank is unwilling to agree to. "We admit that we want to co-operate with Bank Pocztowy. However, we have some alternative ideas to strengthen our position on the Polish market," says RZB's deputy president, Herbert Stepic. He added that the bank is negotiating the purchase of Union Group of the Czech Republic, which is a strategic investor in Lodz-based Bank Przemyslowy. (Gazeta Wyborcza, June 2-3 p. 27) A.Z.