Erste Bank CEO A Treichl said the bank has frequently been approached as regards takeover, but he repeated that he sees no value in being acquired. These comments came on the back of the recent merger between Unicredit and HVB. The impact of the merger on Erste Bank should be relatively small. The new Unicredit/HVB group will be particularly strong in countries where Erste is not present, i.e. in Poland and Bulgaria, while in Erste core markets, i.e. the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, its presence remains relatively limited. Erste Bank also added it is not planning to enter the Polish market, where it would not be able to quickly gain a 10-15% market share, and that it will likely participate in the tender of the Romanian Banca Comerciala Romana; it also remains interested in CEC.