HVB and UniCredit are joining forces

Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG (HVB) and Italian UniCredit are joining forces. This also concerns HVB subsidiary - Bank Austria Creditanstalt (BA-CA): UniCredit will become a new majority shareholder of HVB and BA-CA. This will create the leading banking group in the heart of Europe, with more than 28 million customers and 7000 branches in 19 countries, including Lithuania, where the group is currently represented by Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG Vilnius Branch (HVB~Bank Vilnius Branch).

In order to effect this combination, UniCredit has made offers to the shareholders of HVB and BA-CA. These offers have been published on 26th of August and will be valid until October 2005. The transaction is expected to be completed in November 2005, if the required approvals of the antitrust and supervisory authorities will be given.

The banks in Central and Eastern Europe will play an important role in the new group. The combination will create by far the largest banking network in Central and Eastern Europe, with approximately 16,4 million customers in 16 countries of this region. Network management and coordination functions regarding the operations in CEE (including Lithuania) will be performed in Vienna, Austria.

After the closing of the transaction, the individual markets in CEE will be carefully analyzed once again. We will do our best to make sure that we can offer the attractive jobs for our employees and excellent products and services for our customers, in the leading European banking group.