TALANX SHOULD HAVE SECONDARY LISTING IN WARSAW, SAYS POLISH WATCHDOG

Poland's financial regulator the Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego (KNF) has asked German insurance holding company Talanx to consider a secondary listing on the Warsaw stock exchange if Talanx goes ahead with a planned initial public offering, reports Reuters. Talanx is in the process of buying Polish insurers Europa (in association with Japan's Meiji Yasuda Life) and Warta, but both those deals await the approval of the KNF. KNF boss Andrzej Jakubiak is looking to push Warsaw further ahead as home to the main Eastern European stock exchange. Talanx has been considering an IPO for many years, but bankers and investors in Germany think that it could finally happen this year. The "old" Talanx, based on mainly domestic players HDI and Gerling, is increasingly being supplanted by an internationally focused operation. In the past year it has bought all of Mexico-based Metropolitana Compañia de Seguros, while in Argentina it bought L'Union de Paris Cía. Argentina de Seguros and L'Union de Paris Cia.