Stake in Polish bank not for sale, says AIB

AIB HAS rejected as “mischievous” media reports in a Polish newspaper yesterday that it is considering a sale of its stake in its Polish unit, Bank Zachodni WBK.

Quoting unnamed sources, the lead article in Polish newspaper Parkietclaims the sale of AIB's 70.5 per cent stake in Zachodni offered one of the best options to allow AIB raise additional capital.

However, a spokesman for AIB said the report was “mischievous and based entirely on unfounded market speculation. Any report that this unit is for sale is totally unfounded.”

In a message to staff on Monday – following a 50 per cent fall in the value of AIB’s share price – group chief executive Eugene Sheehy said the bank “continues to be a strong, sound, internationally diversified organisation which serves a huge range of personal and business customers across a wide variety of sectors”.

AIB’s Polish operation is seen as central to this international strategy and Zachodni is expanding its network there.

Shares in Zachodni were 3.8 per cent lower in Warsaw by 2pm yesterday. The bank’s share price has fallen by 50 per cent over the last year, outperforming Irish banking stocks which have seen falls of over 95 per cent.

Zachodni plans to spend around 30 million zloty (€6.9 million) opening new branches this year and it aims to have 530 branches by the end of the year.

Last November Zachodni reported a 9 per cent increase in third-quarter net income to 247.1 million zloty and a doubling of bad debts to 43.8 million zloty.