ALLIED Irish Banks has been given regulatory clearance by the National Bank of Poland to raise its stake in Wielkopolski Bank Kredytowy (WBK) to 40 per cent.

AIB already owns 16.3 per cent of WBK. This week it informed the Polish ministry for finance of its interest in bidding for up to 13.8 million WBK shares on offer from the state. Regulatory clearance by the Central Bank was required to allow AIB to proceed to negotiations with the ministry for finance for more WBK shares.

In January, the ministry invited offers for 13,763,200 WBK shares in a move aimed at reducing the state stake in the publicly quoted WBK from 25 per cent to about 5 per cent.

Investors had to indicate their level of interest and their business intentions by March 11th. The ministry has declined to disclose how many potential bidders have signalled an interest in WBK or when negotiations with investors will begin.