UPDATE 2-Four groups vie for stake in Czech insurer -paper

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By Marek Petrus

PRAGUE, March 28 (Reuters) - At least four foreign bidders, including Europe's No. 2 insurer AXA and Belgium's KBC , are in talks to take a minority stake in Czech insurer Ceska Pojistovna, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Two unspecified high-ranking officials at Pojistovna's sole owner, closely-held financial group PPF, were quoted by daily Hospodarske Noviny as saying PFF was holding the talks but aimed to keep majority control after any stake sale.

Unlisted Pojistovna is the largest Czech insurance company with more than a third of the market in the country of 10.3 million people. It also owns insurers in Slovakia, Russia and Ukraine.

Asked to comment on the report, a PPF spokeswoman said: "We have always been saying that we are considering various strategic options of Ceska Pojistovna's future development.

"However, this is a long-term process, and therefore we will not comment on specific speculations."

The Czech newspaper reported, without quoting any source, that French-based AXA, which gained a Czech foothold when it bought Swiss insurer Winterthur last year, was expected to be the most serious bidder.

AXA, which had been on the lookout for possible acquisition opportunities, had no comment.

KBC, Dutch financial services group ING and German insurer Allianz -- all of them already present in the Czech Republic -- were also expected to be interested, the daily said. Neither ING nor Allianz had any comment.

Belgian banking and insurance group KBC considers central and eastern Europe to be a second home market and has said it was reviewing acquisition targets in the region, but it too had no comment on the Czech report.

"We never comment on individual files but it is not a secret that we want to grow our franchise across central and eastern Europe," said KBC spokeswoman Viviane Huybrecht.

KBC controls the biggest Czech lender CSOB, whose insurance arm is No. 4 in the local market with about 6 percent share.

With some 13 million insurance policies, Pojistovna is the dominant local player. Its net profit surged 80 percent last year to 8.3 billion crowns ($395.8 million) despite a 4 drop in insurance premiums to 39.7 billion crowns.

PPF is 95 percent owned by PPF Chairman Petr Kellner, the first Czech to be included in Forbes's billionaire list in 2006.

It has been on an aggressive expansion trail and says it manages assets worth more than $10 billion. It is active in central and eastern Europe, central Asia, China and Vietnam. (Additional reporting by Emma Davis in Brussels, Sudip Kar-Gupta in Paris and Jonathan Gould in Frankfurt)

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Keywords: CZECH INSURER/