Alior Bank has joined the bidding for Raiffeisen Polbank, claims Reuters, denying reports that Poland’s biggest state-run lender PKO Bank Polski is in exclusive talks to take over Raiffeisen Polbank. Earlier this week, citing undisclosed sources, Polish media outlets reported that the state-owned PKO BP is the only bidder to acquire Raiffeisen Polbank. The suggestion is that while it failed to established itself in other sectors, PKO is targeting Poland’s SME and private banking market, where Raiffeisen has proved the strongest. Initial expectations were that the bank’s sale would attract bids from a wider group of groups including PZU, ING BSK and BGŻ BNP Paribas.
