The European Commision commented that the appeal submitted on Monday with European Court of Justice would not delay UniCredito’s takeover of HVB. An EC spokesman, Jonathan Todd, when asked whether the Polish appeal would slow the merger, stated that "no, because the decision was taken on the 18th of October and the fact that the decision has been called into question in the court has no suspensory effect. So the decision is to be respected until the day the court may decide it is or is not valid."
Separately, the European Commission received the reply (the text has not been made publicly available) to its second letter, on concerns that the Polish government might be trying to interfere with the free movement of capital across countries by preventing the cross-border bank takeover. Following this reply, the European Union Internal Markets Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy accused Polish authorities of failing to cooperate in issues involving UniCredito's takeover of HVB.
Currently, the EC is examining if the 1999 Bank Pekao privatisation agreement is legal after Poland entered EU.
We continue to reiterate our view that, from a short-term trading perspective Bank BPH has benefited (on speculation that minorities could benefit from the high price of a trade sale) and that Bank Pekao has suffered (as potential merger synergy appears in doubt or at least delayed). In our opinion, these trading issues have already been priced in and we maintain our Buy rating on Bank Pekao for those with patience. On valuation grounds, we rate the more expensive Bank BPH a Hold.