PZU Plans to Buy Banks in Poland, Expand Insurance Business Abroad -- Update
August 24 2016 - 11:25AM
Dow Jones News
By Martin M. Sobczyk
WARSAW--Polish insurer PZU SA (PZU.WA) said on Wednesday it
plans to build a banking group that would be in the top five by
assets in Poland, part of the nation's drive to reassert greater
control over its economy.
PZU said it views the project, which began in 2015 with the
acquisition of a relatively small bank called Alior Bank SA, as an
investment, which it may exit in a few years when it can take a
profit.
The strategy of building a bank capable of competing in the
foreign-dominated Polish banking sector is in line with a policy
put forward by Poland's socially conservative government, the
company's largest and controlling shareholder.
The government said in June it was encouraging the large
companies it controls, including PZU, to consider acquiring some of
the banks that eurozone owners are looking to sell in Poland.
Polish officials have said they want to cut the share of banking
assets held by foreign owners from about 60% at present.
PZU said that by 2020 its banking operations would hold at least
140 billion zlotys ($36.5 billion) in assets, compared to some 40
billion zlotys at present.
The company, which is Central Europe's largest insurer, is in
talks with Italy's UniCredit SpA (UCG.MI) about a possible takeover
of Bank Pekao SA, in which UniCredit holds 40%, people familiar
with the talks said on Tuesday. Pekao is Poland's second-largest
bank by assets.
PZU Chief Executive Michal Krupinski said on state radio this
week that the company is in talks about buying several other banks
but didn't give details. On Wednesday, he attempted to duck
questions from reporters about his nearest travel arrangements and
reports that he's going to Milan to talk with Unicredit.
Asked about it repeatedly, he eventually said: "What trips? I
don't comment on media speculation."
Mr. Krupinski, a former Bank of America Merrill Lynch banker
appointed in January in the first months of Poland's current
government, said "it's a buyer's market" for banks in Poland and
that acquisitions of banks are the best way for PZU to use its
excess cash.
PZU also said on Wednesday it plans to look for potential
takeover targets in the insurance sector outside Poland. It already
owns insurance businesses in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and
Ukraine.
Write to Martin M. Sobczyk at martin.sobczyk@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 24, 2016 11:10 ET (15:10 GMT)
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