In line with recent speculations Financial Supervision Commission has approved the spin-off of Bank BPH-200 and merger of Bank (251 PLN, 0,28%) and Bank BPH-280 yesterday. This approval should allow both banks to register their AGM resolutions in court before the October 31 deadline.
Merger of Bank and Bank BPH-280
According to previous management comments the legal merger should be completed in the month after obtaining the supervisory approval. However, recently press speculate that due to accounting issues, the bank may decide to complete it at the beginning of 2008. The operational merger
should last up to 7 months.
Spin-off of Bank BPH-200 and merger with (42 USD, -1,35%) Money
According to Polish daily Parkiet, Leslaw Kuzaj, the regional manager responsible forCEE has stated that eventually both banks will be merged. According to the Money representative the merger between both banks is not expected to be completed before the end of 2008. The newspaper speculates that the regulator may ask Money to retain Bank (909 PLN, -1,03%) listed, and Leslaw Kuzaj confirms that there is such possibility.
Our view:
No further details have been disclosed so the case of regulatory tender offer still remains unclear. The news is in line with latest speculations, but in our opinion should still have some positive impact on the stock price today.