By Marcin Sobczykm
WARSAW--BNP Paribas SA (BNP.FR), France's largest bank, has
filed a non-binding bid to buy a Polish lender from the Dutch group
Rabobank, the French company's Polish unit said in a statement
Thursday.
BNP Paribas has filed an offer to buy 98.5% of shares in Bank
Gospodarki Zywnosciowej SA (BGZ.WA), which is listed on the Warsaw
Stock Exchange.
Spain's Banco Santander SA (SAN.MC) said in October it too was
considering a bid to buy BGZ. Poland's financial regulator said it
was skeptical about Santander's ability to buy BGZ after recent
acquisitions in Poland that have made Santander unit Bank Zachodni
WBK SA (BZW.WA) the country's third-largest bank by assets.
According to Polish press reports, Italy's Unicredit SpA
(UCG.MI) is also in the running.
BGZ's assets totalled 36.7 billion zlotys ($11.9 billion) as of
June 30.
Write to Marcin Sobczyk at marcin.sobczyk@wsj.com
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