“The Polish government favors a purchase of UniCredit’s Polish lender Bank Pekao by domestic insurer PZU, but the price must be fair,” Finance Minister Paweł Szałamacha announced during the Ambrosetti Forum on August 3.
The official mentioned that a fair price needs to include a premium because “it would grant control over the lender.”
“I don’t think there are rivals or other major international groups interested in it now. It’s up to the Italian group to decide what is the best course of action for them to raise additional capital because they do have concerns, out of courtesy I will obviously not discuss this in detail,” the Finance Minister told Reuters.
Last week, the Financial Times informed that PZU and the PFR fund aims to buy a 40.1 percent stake in Pekao for a below-market €3 billion, while its owner UniCredit has offered the acquisition for the price of €3.5 billion.
On the Warsaw Stock Exchange, UniCredit’s 40.1 percent stake in Pekao is worth about €3.1 billion.