UPDATE 1-UniCredit agrees to buy Pekao stake from Poland

WARSAW/MILAN, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Italian bank UniCredit SpA (CRDI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) agreed on Tuesday to buy a further stake in its Polish unit Pekao BAPE.WA from the state Treasury, Warsaw's ministry and Unicredit said on Tuesday.

The ministry's statement said Poland's Treasury will sell the stake of around 4 percent in Pekao at a 3 percent premium to the average market price of the shares over the past six months.

The deal gives Poland's Treasury a put option on the shares running from Sept. 2 to June 30 next year. UniCredit has a call option on the shares for a year from Dec. 23, 2008.

Pekao, Poland's largest bank by assets, beat market expectations with a 54 percent rise in second-quarter earnings.
Source: By Gabriela Baczynska, Ian Simpson, David Holmes
reuters.com