A plan by the Polish Government to privatise the State's biggest insurance firm, PZU, was delayed yesterday as a tender to advise the State ran into political opposition in the parliament.
The delay will disappoint AIB, whose Polish subsidiary Bank, Zachodni WBK, had teamed up with Credit Suisse First Boston to bid for the position of adviser on the proposed initial public offering.
Bank Zachodni WBK's consortium faced competition from Bank Austria's CA IB and Bank BPH, HSBC and PKO BP, and Citigroup with its local unit Bank, Handlowy, for the stake in PZU.
The Polish treasury ministry cancelled a tender for the position of adviser on the privatisation of PZU, after the process fell hostage to a political battle in the Polish parliament yesterday.
"The tender has been cancelled... due to an unforeseeable material change in circumstances, which means that conducting the procedure is not in the public interest," the ministry said on its internet site.
The government said it will not go ahead with the sale until it has the backing of parliament, which has convened a committee to investigate alleged irregularities in the 1999 sale of a 30 percent stake in PZU. - (Additional reporting Reuters)
