RBI ‘eyes Polbank stake’
Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is considering taking a stake in a Polish bank, it has been claimed.Business newspapers report today (Weds) that bosses of the Austrian institute, which handles Raiffeisenzentralbanks (RZB) operations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), are negotiating placing an offer for a stake in Polbank EFG.RBI refused to comment the reports, while Polish media have it that Polbanks main shareholder EFG wanted to sell a 44.1 per cent share in the bank.Austrian Erste Bank and UniCredit, the Italian owner of Bank Austria (BA), are not interested in purchasing the Polbank stake, according to papers. RBI, Erste Bank and UniCredit are among the most important investors in CEE.Polbank has more than 330 branches in Poland and a domestic market share of 4.4 per cent.