Commerzbank AG’s decision to abandon its sale of Poland’s fourth-biggest lender signals that consolidation of the east European nation’s banking industry may be postponed.
The German lender scrapped on Monday the search for an investor that was launched last September, saying the global coronavirus pandemic has made it impossible to get a good price after MBank SA’s valuation dropped. The shares tumbled 53% this year, including 1.4% in early Tuesday trading to set a new 11-year low.
MBank’s performance lags a number of other Polish lenders due to its exposure to Swiss-franc loans and heavy provisioning to cushion…