* Burgan to have option to buy Tekfen's 29.3 percent in bank
* Eurobank bought 70 percent Tekfen bank stake in 2007
* Deal announcement expected with a couple of weeks
(Adds quote, details, background)
ISTANBUL, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Kuwait's Burgan Bank
has reached a deal to buy a 70 percent stake in
Turkey's Eurobank Tekfen, a partnership of Greece's EFG Eurobank
and Turkey's Tekfen Holding, sources with
knowledge of the deal said.
The stake sale comes as Greek banks, hit by the country's
sovereign debt crisis, look to boost their capital base to cope
with a protracted recession and rise in non-performing loans.
EFG Eurobank, Greece's second-largest lender, said in July
last year it had begun talks to sell a majority stake in
Eurobank Tekfen as it sought to safeguard its balance sheet
against debt losses.
In December Eurobank Tekfen said talks with three potential
buyers were continuing.
The sources said on Wednesday the deal with Burgan Bank, the
commercial banking arm of Kuwait Projects Co (KIPCO),
was in excess of Eurobank Tekfen's equity capital value of 608.3
million Turkish lira ($347 million).
"A deal has been reached. An official statement is expected
in the coming couple of weeks," one of the sources told Reuters.
The deal also includes an option for Burgan to buy Tekfen's
29.26 percent stake in Eurobank Tekfen.
Greece's EFG Eurobank sold a majority stake in its Polish
operation Polbank to Austria's Raiffeisen Bank in
February last year for 490 million euros ($698 million).
Eurobank bought 70 percent of Tekfenbank in 2007.
Eurobank Tekfen made a net profit in the first nine months
of last year of 20.3 million lira. Its balance sheet size was
5.1 billion lira, with deposits at 2.2 billion lira.
($1 = 1.7512 Turkish liras)
KIPCO is the Gulf state's largest investment company. It
also has stakes in United Gulf Bank, as well as other
financial services sector companies across the Middle East and
North Africa.
(Reporting by Asli Kandemir; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing
by Greg Mahlich)
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