UNICREDITO ITALIANO has concluded an agreement to take a 98% stake in BULBANK (1.2 bn euro in assets with a profit equivalent to 37 million euro in 1999), Bulgaria's largest bank. Achieved in company with the German insurer ALLIANZ, the transaction amounts to 260 million euro. According to the agreement, UNICREDITO will take a 93% stake and ALLIANZ 5% of the Bulgarian bank.