BNP Paribas has acquired control of Bank BGŻ from Rabobank, valuing Bank BGŻ at PLN4.5bn (€1.1bn), including Rabobank Polska operations that were merged with Bank BGŻ last June.
Further to the agreement reached on December 5 last year, BNP Paribas will finalise on September 23 the acquisition of 41,763.109 shares of Bank BGŻ subscribed to today by Rabobank to the tender offer, representing 74.39% of the share capital of Bank BGŻ. Following completion of the tender offer, BNP Paribas should hold between 88.64% and 90% of Bank BGŻ, while Rabobank will retain a stake of just less than 10%.
The acquisition was completed after all regulatory approvals including that of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) were obtained, said BNP Paribas in a statement. BNP Paribas anticipates that Bank BGŻ will be merged with BNP Paribas Bank Polska before the closing of the subscription period under the tender offer.
Although the future of hundreds of Bank BGZ employees is uncertain as the status of their jobs will be subject to the requirements of the French bank, Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, chief executive at BNP Paribas, welcomed the employees and clients of Bank BGŻ to the BNP Paribas Group.
“The acquisition of Bank BGŻ is a crucial strategic move for our group,” he said. “Once the merger with BNP Paribas Bank Polska has been approved and completed, the new entity will bring together the strengths of our international banking group and the expertise of a high quality Polish bank […] This strong base, which we intend to continue to develop, will make us a significant player in the Polish market.”
Structured products
BNP Paribas has had a presence in Poland’s structured retail products market since 2007 following the acquisition of Fortis which provided the French bank with a diversified retail and corporate banking business in the country.
BNP Paribas Polska offers a broad range of products and services to retail, small businesses and corporate clients, including deposit-taking, lending, financial market products and selected investment banking solutions including structured products but its level of activity has been rather marginal, with 34 structures marketed in the retail market since 2007, of which 14 are still live.
SRP data also shows that BNP Paribas Polska has only marketed two products YTD (Global Partners PL KBC Point Capped 4 and WiborProfit 2014), which sold an estimated combined PLN40m (€9.5m).
Rabobank’s Bank BGZ has also been a marginal player in the Polish structured products market since 2008, with 49 launches via its retail banking commercial network and its BGZ Optima internet banking subsidiary. Bank BGZ, however, has sold as many products YTD as those sold throughout 2013, and closed the offer period of its latest tranche (Lokata Inwestycyjna XLI) yesterday.
Stefaan Decraene, head of international retail banking at BNP Paribas, said that the combination of the two banking outlets will result in the seventh largest universal bank in Poland with a 4% deposit market share, an increased national branch coverage with a strong presence in small and medium sized cities, an internet tool (Bank BGŻ Optima) and partnerships in consumer finance allowing a nationwide client reach.
2013 acquisitions
The acquisition of Bank BGZ by BNP Paribas follows the recent takeover of Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) market-making activities of the majority of its structured products in the Netherlands, Italy and the Nordics as part of BNP Paribas’s acquisition of certain assets and liabilities related to the structured investment products and equity derivatives (IP&ED) business of RBS.
Bank BGZ’s acquisition also follows the purchase of Crédit Agricole’s equity derivatives book in October last year for €12.5bn and of Macquarie’s equity derivatives business in July 2012 in a transaction that involved more than 1,500 products being transferred to the French bank across seven exchanges.
Calls to BNP Paribas to establish any specific plans for the bank’s structured products business in Poland were not returned by press time.
Related stories:
BNP Paribas joins World Bank in roadshow to promote index-linked green bond
Court backs Binckbank on ‘turbo’ tag dispute with BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas subsidiary issues €5.5bn securities in H1
BNP Paribas reports record loss despite solid SP performance