Treasury backs minority owners in Slaski dispute with ING

The Treasury Ministry, owner of some 5% in Bank Slaski, announced on Friday it had joined several other minority shareholders unsatisfied with an offer made by Dutch financial group ING at its public bid for 45% of the bank. ING, which is seeking to gain control of the remaining, minority-controlled 45% of shares in the Katowice-based bank, called a public tender to purchase all shares it does not yet own at zl.265 per share. However, minority owners, together holding roughly 20% in Slaski, including U.S.-based Templeton Asset Management with 7.2%, objected late last week to ING's price, demanding that a higher offer be made. A group of the bank's investors have filed a motion to call an extraordinary shareholders' meeting next month, a move the Treasury says it supports. Slaski's shares enjoyed unusually large demand last week amid discussion of the possible takeover, surging to a closing value of zl.264 on Friday, just shy of ING's bid. (Rzeczpospolita, March 17-18, p. B5)