said April 6 thatit plans to issue upto 220.0 million new shares in a public rights offering.

BankZachodni WBK SA, Goldman Sachs International and J.P. Morgan Securities Plc,the underwriters of the transaction, agreed to underwrite a capital increase ofup to approximately 1.65 billion Polish zlotys by way of purchasing new sharesin the bank in the public rights offering. The underwriters' commitment hasbeen split equally among the three banks, Alior Bank said.

Thefinal and actual number of the new shares and their issue price will bedetermined by the lender's management board at a later stage taking intoconsideration expected proceeds and market conditions.

Themanagement board will propose the planned share issue at the May 5extraordinary general meeting of shareholders.

Therights issue is in preparation for Alior Bank's acquisition of General Electric Co. unit 'smajority stake in Bank BPHSA's core bank, Reuters reported the same day. Alior Bank CEOWojciech Sobieraj reportedly said: "The rights offering is one of the keyelements of this transaction."

As of April 5, US$1was equivalent to 3.75 Polish zlotys.