In 2008, France’s Zaleski family used E425m from their Italian industrial group Carlo Tassara to finance a new bank in Poland, the country of their ancestors. The intention was to stay invested until 2015 or beyond. But Italy’s economic difficulties obliged the family to sell two-thirds of Alior Bank via a 2.1bn zloty (E509.7m) initial public offering (IPO) on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in December 2012.
With investors shunning bank stocks, Alior was the largest banking IPO in Europe and the second largest globally in 2012. And Poland’s economy is forecast to slow in 2013. Despite these challenges, the stock rallied after launch, anchored by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s purchase of an 8.83% stake.
