Erste Bank plans offer to raise stake in Erste Bank Polska by up to 26% 

By Reuters News

Sept 25 (Reuters) - Austria's Erste Group Bank ERST.VI said on Friday it plans to launch a tender offer to take an additional up to 26% stake in Erste Bank Polska EBP.WA, looking to deepen its exposure to the key Polish market.

Erste Group currently holds a 49% stake in Erste Bank Polska — Poland's third-largest bank by assets and one of the country's most profitable lenders — after acquiring a controlling stake from Santander earlier this year as part of its push to expand in Central and Eastern Europe.

  • Erste Group expects to launch the offer in November at a price of about 713 zloty ($185.95) per share in cash. The offer price translates to an about 11.7% discount to Erste Bank Polska's last close of 807.6 zloty on Friday.

  • Erste Bank Polska shares have risen about 48% so far this year, valuing the company at 82.5 billion zlotys ($21.51 billion). Erste Group is valued at roughly $54 billion based on its outstanding shares.

  • The lender is looking to raise its stake in Erste Bank Polska to more than 50%, but not above 75% in order to meet minimum free float rules.

  • Erste Group will fund the offer from internal resources and is targeting a post-offer Common Equity Tier 1 ratio above 14.25%. The bank's CET1 ratio stood at 15.2% at the end of the first half of the year.

  • Erste's earnings are closely tied to the economies of the Central and Eastern Europe region, where it operates major banking franchises in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Croatia and Serbia.

($1 = 3.8344 zlotys)

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