UniCredito takes over Pioneer with more mergers likely

Italy's second largest banking group UniCredito Italiano, which is a majority shareholder in Bank Pekao S.A., will take over U.S. investment company Pioneer Group for $1.2 billion. The deal will likely lead to changes on Polish investment and pension fund markets, as presently Pekao and Pioneer run competing funds. Pekao co-owns the Pekao/Alliance investment fund company and the Pekao/Alliance pension fund. Pioneer, meanwhile, has its own investment and pension funds. In the case of pension funds, the law forbids any entity to own stakes in more than one fund, so changes will be necessary. It is possible that the Pekao/Alliance and Pioneer pension funds will be merged with another fund, owned by German insurance group Allianz, which closely cooperates with UniCredito. (Puls Biznesu, page 6, Parkiet, page 1) T.J.