AT LEAST seven companies have placed bids to buy the Allied Irish Banks (AIB) stake in the bank’s Polish unit, Bank Zachodni WBK, the country’s fourth-largest bank.

The interested parties include Poland’s two largest lenders – state-controlled PKO Bank Polski and Bank Pekao, which is part of the Italian banking group, Unicredit.

Other parties to have submitted indicative offers by Monday’s deadline were Russian bank Sberabnk, Intesa Sanpaolo in Italian, French bank BNP Paribas and the US private equity group Apax Partners, according to news reports, citing sources familiar with the process.

The two Polish banks have publicly previously expressed interest in tabling bids for BZ WBK, which AIB is selling to help raise €7.4 billion in capital demanded by the Financial Regulator to absorb mounting loan losses at the bank.

AIB managing director Colm Doherty has previously described the bank’s profitable Polish subsidiary as the banking group’s “jewel in the crown”, which is among a number of businesses up for sale to generate additional capital.

The Polish government, a 41 per cent shareholder in PKO, is interested in BZ WBK to reduce foreign ownership of Poland’s banking sector, and has encouraged PKO to submit an offer for the bank.

Morgan Stanley and AIB Corporate Finance are managing the sale of the business, which is expected to be agreed by September or October after formal bids are offered later this summer.

Among the other assets being sold by the bank is its 22.5 per cent stake in US bank MT and the bank’s UK business as well as Goodbody Stockbrokers, which is close to being bought by Kerry-based financial services group, Fexco.

If AIB cannot raise sufficient capital from asset disposals and tapping shareholder through a rights issue, the Government is likely to take a majority stake. – (Additional reporting by Dow Jones)