Treasury may sell its stake in PBK to Bank Austria

Deputy Treasury Minister Alicja Kornasiewicz has disclosed the Treasury is to decide in the next two weeks whether to sell its 10.3% stake in Powszechny Bank Kredytowe (PBK). The Ministry has been in talks with Bank Austria Creditanstalt (BA/CA), which already holds a 43.51% stake in PBK. Earlier, the Banking Supervisory Commission (KNB) cleared BA/CA to buy more shares allowing it to increase its stake to 66%. The Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) says it has no problem with BA/CA holding more than a 50% stake in PBK. Shareholders of PBK and BA/CA will meet this month to discuss the possibility of a merger later in the year. The share exchange ratio has been set at one BA/CA share to 149 PBK shares. However, there are unconfirmed reports BA/CA is about to sell its stake in PBK to Deutsche Bank. (Parkiet, page 1) S.M.