ROME: Italy’s biggest bank, UniCredit, has sold a minority stake in Polish subsidiary Bank Pekao, a move aimed at raising capital. The Italian lender said on Tuesday it raised EUR 749 million by selling a 10 percent stake in Pekao SA.
Commenting on the sale, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Development Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told the PAP news agency that “if there are such opportunities on the market, we will try to boost the share of Polish institutions in the banking sector.”
But he added that state-owned PKO BP, the largest Polish bank “could not take over Pekao SA, which is second on the market, for market competition reasons.” “Domesticating banks is a very important part of our [Law and Justice party] programme,” the minister said. The Polish market accounts for 6 percent of UniCredit’s revenues, according to March 2016 data.
