FBK Finecobank SpA

By Manuela Mesco

MILAN--Italian lender UniCredit SpA (UCG.MI) said Thursday that its gross proceeds from the sale of a 20% stake in online broker FinecoBank SpA (FBK.MI) was about 552 million euros ($608.03 million).

The bank, which on Wednesday launched the sale through an accelerated book building process, said it sold the stake at EUR4.55 a share, a discount of about 5% to FinecoBank's last closing price.

The sale is expected to increase the bank's CET1 capital ratio by about 12 percentage points. It still holds a 35% controlling stake in FinecoBank.

The operation follows the previous sale of a 10% FinecoBank stake and 10% in Poland's Bank Pekao SA, just after Jean-Pierre Mustier took over as UniCredit's chief executive in July.

The bank said it would announce a new strategic plan in mid December which analysts say may include a multibillion capital increase, more asset sales and drastic cost cuts.

-Write to Manuela Mesco at manuela.mesco@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 13, 2016 02:35 ET (06:35 GMT)

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