La cessione definitiva della filiale polacca potrebbe essere ritardata
RBI-Rückzug aus Polen stößt auf Hindernisse | 19.02.15 | finanzen.at
Raiffeisen Poland Plan Hits Snag as KNF Insists on Terms
By Marta Waldoch and Boris Groendahl - 19/feb/2015 11:53:17
(Bloomberg) -- Raiffeisen Bank International AG may have to wait with a full sale of Raiffeisen Bank Polska SA until after it has listed the unit on the Warsaw Stock Exchange as Polish authorities insist banks stick to their pledges.
The Polish Financial Supervision Commission, or Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego, expects banks to fulfill promises, the Warsaw-based regulator said Thursday. Raiffeisen agreed with the KNF to sell at least 15 percent of the Polish unit to the public by the middle of 2016, when it acquired EFG Polbank for 605 million euros ($689 million) three years ago.
“We expect Raiffeisen, as any other investor, to stick to its commitments,” the KNF’s head Andrzej Jakubiak said in an interview in Warsaw. “Raiffeisen’s include the IPO. It should fulfill all pledges before the exit.”
The Polish snag shows the perils of Raiffeisen’s plan to improve its capital buffers by reducing assets over the next three years. Moody’s on Wednesday downgraded Raiffeisen’s credit rating, citing “execution risks” for the capital improvement plan and warning the increase of the buffer could take time and leave the bank “vulnerable.”
Raiffeisen announced a U-turn in eastern Europe on Feb. 9, saying it will scale back its Russian business and sell its operation in Poland as the biggest in a series of measures designed to boost its core equity Tier 1 ratio by 2 points to 12 percent within three years.
Regulatory Requirements
The Austrian bank fell 1.3 percent to 13.30 euros at the 5:30 p.m. close in Vienna, making it the second-worst performer in the Stoxx 600 Banks index, which was little changed. Its junior bonds plummeted, also driven down by Moody’s rating cut.
The KNF’s requirements don’t stop at requesting the IPO, according to Jakubiak. He would also prefer Raiffeisen sell to an investor that’s not already present in Poland and has at least the same credit rating. Raiffeisen also must take care of the refinancing of its 2.9 billion-euro portfolio of Swiss franc-denominated mortgages, he said.
“We’re against cumulation of risks by Polish banks,” he added. “And it is not an acceptable solution for a Polish bank with exposure to franc loans to take over another bank with such a portfolio. It’s also absolutely required that Raiffeisen takes on responsibility for the franc loan financing.”
The requirement for an outside investor would rule out UniCredit SpA’s Bank Pekao SA, Poland’s second-biggest bank, which said last week that it’s its “duty” to look at every possible acquisition. Societe Generale SA, which owns only a small unlisted lender in the country, said last week Poland “remains a country of interest” for it.
Lower Rating
Raiffeisen has a Baa2 long-term debt rating at Moody’s, which said it may downgrade further after yesterday’s cut. Standard & Poor’s said Feb. 3 it may cut its A- rating, while Fitch is labeling Raiffeisen’s debt A.
Raiffeisen will “respect all commitments made in the course of the Polbank acquisition” and the sales process continues “as planned,” spokeswoman Susanne Langer said in an e-mailed response to questions.
Chief Financial Officer Martin Gruell told reporters last week that the structure of the unit’s sale still hinged on his talks with the regulator. He said at the time that the KNF’s goal to have major banks on Warsaw’s stock exchange could be met if Raiffeisen sold to a bank that’s already listed.
Based on Raiffeisen Bank Polska’s equity of 1.44 billion euros at the end of last year and the average price-to-book multiple of 1.56 for Polish banks, the lender would have a valuation of about 2.2 billion euros, according to Bloomberg calculations.
To contact the reporters on this story: Marta Waldoch in Warsaw at
[email protected]; Boris Groendahl in Vienna at
[email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Patrick Henry at
[email protected]; Elisa Martinuzzi at
[email protected] James Kraus
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