According to a front page article in Polish daily Parkiet, BRE Bank is considering the sale of part of its 100%-owned asset management subsidiary to its parent company – Commerzbank. Accorrding to CEO Slawomir Lachowski, it would strengthen the market position of the mutual fund company on Polish market. Due to the less aggressive strategy of Skarbiec AM, its market share has declined from 5.17% (AUM of PLN 2.5bn) at the beginning of 2005 to 3.85% (AUM of PLN 2.05bn) in 3Q05. A decision on the size of the stake, which is planned to be sold, (51% or 49%) is expected to be taken in 1Q06. The value of Skarbiec Asset Management is estimated to reach some PLN 92m (on the back of recent similar transactions on the market). The book value of the company was PLN 77.3m at the end of 2004. Whilst bulls of the stock will no doubt highlight the potential for a capital gain, we would instead underline that sale is a result of the bank's failure in the arena of asset management (formerly one of the bank's 3 pillars) and that bringing in Commerzbank as a direct investor is unlikely to generate positive change. We maintain our Sell rating on the company.