UniCredit Bank Austria Has Another Greek Writedown, WiBlatt Says

Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- UniCredit SpA’s Bank Austria unit will write down its Greek government bonds by another 100 million euros ($132 million) in the fourth quarter, Chief Executive Officer Willibald Cernko was quoted as saying in an interview with Austrian newspaper WirtschaftsBlatt.

The lender, which owns most of UniCredit’s eastern European business, was profitable last year even as it wrote down its Greek bond holdings, Cernko told the Vienna-based paper. It also had profits in Hungary, where it was forced to swallow losses on foreign-currency mortgages, Cernko said.

Reports that UniCredit may sell its German unit HVB, a former Bank Austria owner, are “baseless rumors,” Cernko said.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Boris Groendahl at bgroendahl@bloomberg.net