ALLIANZ AND UNICREDITO TO BUY BULGARIAN STATE BANK

Germany-based insurer Allianz and Italy’s Unicredito bank are to buy 98% of Bulgaria’s largest commercial bank Bulbank for 360m euros reports Agence France Presse news agency. The Unicredito/Allianz consortium, which will not be able to sell its newly-acquired stake for at least three years, beat offers from the Greek-French grouping Kanovas/Credit Agricole Indosuez and Belgium’s KBC bank. Bulbank, which has a 20% local market share, made profits of about 54m euros in 1999 and is the fifth Bulgarian state bank to be privatised.