Unicredit Bulbank (Bulgaria)

Bulbank, Bulgaria's largest bank in terms of assets, was founded as Bulgarian Foreign Trade Bank in 1964 to specialise in foreign trade payments and finance.
In July 2000, Bulgarian authorities sold 98% state-owned stake in Bulbank to a consortium of Italy's UniCredit and Germany's Allianz AG for EUR 360 million. A total of 95% was acquired by the Italian bank and 5.0% by the German company. Some 2.0% was retained by minority shareholders. In February 2004, Bulbank bought a local leasing company - Unileasing, in a bid to expand activities on the country's financial services market. The merger of Bulbank with local HVB Bank Biochim and Hebros Bank, both units of German HVB Group that was acquired by UniCredit in Europe's biggest-ever cross-border banking takeover, was completed in late April 2007 and the bank was renamed into UniCredit Bulbank. The lender operates a network of more than 200 branches and offices nationwide.