Polish insurance giant PZU paid out the largest dividend in the history of Poland's capitalist economy on Thursday. The total payout of the accumulated and interim dividend amounted to zł 12.75 billion.

Dutch insurance company Eureko BV, which owns 32.1percent of shares in the insurer, received zł.7.76 billion. The Polish State Treasury owns 55.1 percent and received zł.3.5 billion. A dividend of zł.147.65 per share was paid out.

The latest dividend payout to Eureko forms part of the October agreement between the Dutch insurer and the State Treasury to end their long-lasting ownership struggle over PZU.

The złoty had been strained between the October deal and Thursday's payout, since PZU needed to convert part of the funds from złoty into euro.

“Today's [trading] session may be a bit nervous because of the planned dividend of PZU,” Maja Goettig, chief economist at Bank BPH, told Forsal.pl early in the day. “The behavior of investors will in large part depend on the security of the transactions concluded by Eureko, which it will receive in the European currency,” she added. The złoty dipped in value at the beginning of trade on Thursday.

According to the settlement, Eureko will reduce its stake in PZU and will terminate an arbitration case against Poland in exchange for zł.4.77 billion in compensation.

Completion of the terms of the accord will increase Poland's control of PZU and makes it probable that Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad's plans to float the insurance firm on the Warsaw Stock Exchange by the end of 2010 will be realized.

PZU's record-breaking payout comes on the back of its impressive Q3 results. The insurer posted a net profit of zł.980 million in Q3 2009, which brings the group's total profit for the first nine months of the year to nearly zł.3.3 billion. This figure marks a 48.7-percent y/y increase. (GP/RG)

Sources: Dow Jones, Puls Biznesu, Parkiet