Greece confirms Piraeus picked to buy Cypriot units

Piraeus Bank has been chosen to take over the Greek branches of Cypriot lenders that are being sold, Greece's bank bailout fund confirmed on Friday.

The deal is subject to approval by European competition authorities, a statement from the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund said. It did not provide terms of the deal.

The statement confirmed a Reuters report citing banking sources saying Piraeus had beaten out Alpha Bank in the race for the Greek units of Cyprus's two largest lenders - Bank of Cyprus and Cyprus Popular.

(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos, writing by Deepa Babington)