KIEV, May 18 ??“ Piraeus Bank of Greece signed an agreement on the acquisition of 78% of shares in International Commercial Bank, a small Ukrainian bank, the Greek bank reported on its Web site on Friday.

The Ukrainian bank declined to comment on the deal.

Piraeus Bank Group is one of Greece's largest banks. Its net profit in the first quarter of 2007 amounted to EUR 94.9 million, which was 48% up year-over-year. The bank's loan portfolio in the three months topped EUR 2 billion. The bank's assets by March 31 were estimated at EUR 34.5 billion.