The Polish government favours the purchase of UniCredit’s Bank Pekao by the domestic insurer PZU but the price must be fair, the Polish Finance Minister, Paweł Szałamacha said.
Italy’s largest bank by assets UniCredit is mulling the sale of a number of assets, including its 40.1 percent stake in Pekao, as it seeks to bolster its balance sheet and limit the size of a capital increase many analysts see as inevitable. UniCredit’s holding is currently worth about 3.1 billion euros ($3.46 billion) on the Warsaw stock exchange.
PZU, Poland’s biggest insurer, is in talks with UniCredit over a possible deal but according to press reports the two sides are haggling over the price. Szałamacha said it was only natural for PZU to be interested in Pekao, but he stressed that it was up to the two groups to decide on any deal.
