Erste Bank announced yesterday it has finalized the acquisition of the state's 99.97% stake in Hungarian Postabank (Erste paid EUR 394.1m, i.e. 2.8-multiple of Postabank's book value). Erste Bank said it immediately begins the process of merging Postabank with its existing subsidiary, Erste Bank Hungary, and that it intends to complete the merger by end-2004. Neutral.
Separately, the EU commissioner M. Monti assumes that the European Commission will find state aid granted to Ceska sporitelna (CS) before its privatization to Erste Bank in line with EU legislation, Czech Press Agency reported yesterday. The EC should rule on CS in January 2004. This is largely expected.
Jan Hájek