UniCredit Bank Romania

Italian bank UniCredit said it expected to be able to merge the Romanian business of Greece's Alpha Bank into its own local subsidiary in the second half of next year, after closing the acquisition on Monday.

UniCredit Bank Austria, the market leader in Central and Eastern Europe, on Thursday announced it had bought a 45-per-cent stake in the Romanian lender UniCredit Tiriac Bank from Tiriac Holdings Ltd.

Following the transaction, which has to be completed before the end of this month, UniCredit Bank Austria will hold 95.6 per cent of the shares.