JP Morgan buys 3.12 pct of Poland's insurer PZU

JP Morgan said on Wednesday it had purchased 2.7 million shares in Poland's top insurer PZU from Manchester Securities Corporation.

JP Morgan did not disclose in its statement what it paid for the 3.12 percent stake.

"JP Morgan is purchasing the shares as part of its market-making activities in central and Eastern European equities," the statement said.

Consolidated net profit of PZU, subject of a battle for control between the government and Dutch-based Eureko, jumped 20 percent in the first quarter of the year to 1.37 billion zlotys

($444.6 million).

The treasury has been engaged in a legal battle over PZU with Eureko since 1999, delaying a possible public offering of its shares. The government holds a 55 percent stake in PZU.

Unlisted Eureko owns more than 30 percent of PZU, central Europe's largest insurer.

Last year an international arbitration court found that Poland had broken an international treaty by failing to sell Eureko an additional stake in PZU, as promised in the original sale. The government has appealed the decision.

Source:Reuters