EBRD says to up Polish investments, eyes energy and banks

By Adrian Krajewski WARSAW (Reuters) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) [EBRD.UL] plans to invest around a quarter more in Poland this year than in 2014 and is looking for projects in renewable energy and the financial sector, its local head said. The EBRD sees a role for itself in Polish banking consolidation, with the likes of Austrian Raiffeisen's and General Electric's lining up sales of local units. "We ended last year in Poland with 600 million euros (437.39 million pounds) in new investments. We hope that this year the amount will be even higher," EBRD's Poland director Grzegorz Zielinski told Reuters. "We are selective, but if there are suitable projects, I don't see why our investments should not be 20-30 percent higher this year." The EBRD, the European Union's investment arm, was set up to help the countries of the former Soviet bloc make the transition to market economies. It has so far invested almost 7 billion euros in Poland in more than 325 projects. The EBRD, which last year made overall investments of 8.9 billion euros across the region, usually buys minority stakes for 3-5 years. It has invested in renewable energy in Poland, and provided additional capital to local banks as well as the private sector. It sees potential for renewed involvement in banking where the number of companies operating in Poland is expected to fall. "We are examining whether the announced ownership changes and consolidations in the banking sector can be of interest to us," Zielinski said. "We believe it is possible that we can once again assume our role as an anchor investor. We are also interested in stock market listings of banks." Looking across other industries, the EBRD should sign a 119 million euro credit deal with Polish utility Polenergia in the coming weeks, Zielinski said. But he stressed the EBRD did not plan to participate in energy sector consolidation planned by the Poland's treasury ministry. The Polish government plans to merge state-run power producers, such as PGE , Energa , Tauron , and Enea . The aim is to boost their investment potential. "It would be hard for us to engage in the announced consolidation process in the Polish energy sector, as it runs against one of our main aims, which is market liberalisation," Zielinski said. "We can, however, play a role in providing support for increasing efficiency in energy distribution," he added. "We also want to engage in changing Poland's energy mix and reducing the country's dependency on coal." (Editing by Christian Lowe and Keith Weir)