Shareholder meeting hands control of BIG BG to BCP

Bank Comercial Portugues (BCP) tightened its grip on BIG Bank Gdanski (BIG BG) at yesterday's extraordinary general shareholders meeting by taking, with its allies, most of the seats on the Polish bank's supervisory board. The meeting ended the period of instability following an unsuccessful takeover bid by German Deutsche Bank (DB). The shareholders also decided to merge BIG BG with BIG Bank. "The effect of the merger will be simplification of structures, making both product range and organizational structures the same. Synergies will be made by decreasing the cost of sales," said BIG BG president Boguslaw Kott. Shareholders also voted to eliminate the statue restricting shareholders from exercising more than 15% of voting rights. This statue was introduced to prevent a hostile takeover, but now is unnecessary. "We do not plan to increase the number of shares in order to take control over BIG BG, but we want to cooperate with other shareholders," said BCP chairman and BIG BG management board member Jorge Goncalves. (Prawo i Gospodarka, page 1, 12, Reuters) M.M.