On Thursday, BNP Paribas said it had submitted a non-binding bid to acquire Bank BGZ. The announcement had confirmed reports that the biggest lender in France had joined Italy's UniCredit to acquire the Polish unit of Dutch lender Rabobank.
BGZ, according to Reuters, ranked number 11 in terms of assets. Accordingly, the interest by BNP was for the French lender to strengthen its market position in Eastern Europe. BNP's bid was worth EUR1 billion or USD1.4 billion.
Reuters said Rabobank had been conducting reviews of offers for BGZ and had not indicated earlier on that the latter was for sale. However, analysts said Rabobank might be forced to divest its Polish unit after US and European regulators had placed a hefty USD1 billion fine on the Dutch lender in relation to the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) rate rigging scandal.
Reuters postulated that BNP might be the top pick by Rabobank to acquire a 98.5% interest in BGZ due to the former's robust capital position.
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