Brussels, 03/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is considering writing to Poland over its behaviour in the planned acquisition of German bank HypoVereinsbank (HVB) by Italy's UniCredito, explained a Commission spokesperson on Friday. The College of Commissioners will decide on Wednesday whether the Polish authorities have violated Article 21 of the Merger Regulation, which gives the Commission exclusive power to decide on cross-border merger deals. If the Commission tells Poland its measures are not in line with EU merger rules, Warsaw will have two weeks in which to respond. Failing a satisfactory answer, the European Commission may then announce that Poland has acted illegally. In a similar case in 1999, Portugal used prudential rules to block a merger between Champalimaud and BSCH in Spain, but following pressure from the competition authorities, the Portuguese government finally authorised the deal.
Concerned about the impact of the deal, which would involve the merger of a Polish bank, BPH, owned by HVB, with Pekao, the Polish subsidiary of UniCredito, Poland decided to block the deal. Responding to previous requests for explanations from EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, Poland explained that the deal violated an agreement signed in the past. Poland explained that UniCredito has not respected the 1999 privatisation agreement when it bought up Pekao, under which it agreed not to acquire competing banks (see EUROPE 9117). Poland has also appealed to the European Court of Justice, criticising the Commission of not correctly defining sections of the market in its analysis authorising the deal in October 2005 (see EUROPE 9126).