12/18/2007

Owner of Poland's Getin considers sale, La Caixa interested - report

The main shareholder of Getin Holding is considering selling the Polish financial group in a deal that could be worth 6-8 bln zlotys and grant the buyer a foothold on central Europe's largest banking market, daily Rzeczpospolita reported.Giving no named sources, the paper said owner Polish businessman Leszek Czarnecki may sell the group, which includes mid-sized lender Getin Bank as well as a leading financial broker and leasing company.Rzeczpospolita also said Spanish bank La Caixa had ordered an in-depth study of Getin's finances.A Getin spokesman declined to comment.Rumours Czarnecki was ready to sell Getin, which had profit of 110 mln zlotys in the third quarter, surfaced earlier this year during Italy's UniCredit's auction of a chunk of its smaller Polish unit Bank BPH.Poland's biggest banks were sold off by the state in the 1990s, leaving few options for other European players to get in near the top of the sector.Rzeczpospolita estimated Getin Holding to be worth around 10 bln zlotys at current market value.
Source: By Patrick Graham
WARSAW (Thomson Financial),abcmoney.co.uk



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