American multinational conglomerate General Electric (GE) is mulling options over the possible sale of its Polish banking unit, Bank BPH.
GE may offload its 89% stake in the business, which it acquired in 2008. In terms of assets, Bank BPH is one of the Poland’s 10-largest bank and has a market capitalisation of $961m.
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The sale is part of GE’s strategy to shrink its financial services arm and boost high-margin industrial manufacturing operations.
GE spokeswoman Susan Bishop said that the firm’s is looking to decrease the share of earnings coming from its finance operations to 25% of the total.
"The bank would be better positioned to realize its full potential if it was aligned with a company that had a strong commitment to its business plan and growth strategy," Bishop added.
Following BPH’s announcement, Poland’s financial watchdog KNF issued a statement indicating that it could oppose the plan.
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By GlobalDataAndrzej Jakubiak, head of KNF, said that sale would increase the level of concentration on the market, and additionally leave all risks related to BPH’s high FX portfolio in the Polish system.
