Polish insurer PZU buys 32.8% stake in Bank Pekao
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
07.06.2017 11:38
State-run insurer PZU said that it and the Polish Development Fund (PFR) on Wednesday finalized the purchase of a 32.8 percent stake in Poland-based Bank Pekao for PLN 10.6 billion.
Photo: Paul Sableman/Flickr.com
PZU said in a statement: "This is one of the biggest transactions in the banking sector in Europe in recent years."
"With this strategic investment, PZU becomes the largest financial group in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe," it added.
PZU's purchase of the stake in Bank Pekao from Italy’s UniCredit is part of the Polish government’s plans to "repolonize" the banking sector.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mateusz Morawiecki recently said that every large economy in the world “aims for a healthy and effective balance between foreign and domestic capital in the strategic and vulnerable sectors of industry and services.”
He added: “Such a sector is certainly Poland's bank sector, which only a few years ago was strongly dominated by foreign investors”.
(pk)
Source: PAP