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Investing.com -- Italian banking group, UniCredit SpA (LON:0RLS), has increased its shareholding in Greece’s Alpha Services and Holdings SA, also known as Alpha Bank (AT:ACBr), by an additional 9.7%, according to a Bloomberg report on Thursday. This latest acquisition, costing slightly more than €600 million ($677 million), takes UniCredit’s total stake in the Greek bank to nearly 20%.
The financial details of the deal, which were announced on Wednesday, have not been made public. However, the report confirmed the transaction’s cost to be around €615 million.
This move by UniCredit follows two previous attempts to acquire shares in Germany’s Commerzbank AG (OTC:CRZBY) and Italian competitor Banco BPM SpA. Those deals are still pending. UniCredit’s decision to increase its stake in Alpha Bank, led by Chief Executive Officer Andrea Orcel, was unexpected but welcomed by local authorities in Greece.
The latest investment means that UniCredit has spent almost €1 billion in less than two years on its Alpha Bank holdings. This includes a €293 million payment in 2023 to buy the Greek state’s share in the bank.
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