Russia's Sberbank to sign Denizbank deal on Friday

Russia's giant state-run Sberbank is set to sign a preliminary agreement on Friday to buy failed Franco-Belgian group Dexia's Turkish unit DenizBank, Reuters cites sources close to the deal as saying.

Sberbank and Dexia entered exclusive talks two weeks ago after the latter rejected a bid from Qatar National Bank as too low.

The deal would push Sberbank deeper into emerging Europe after its 505 million euro ($629.43 million) purchase of VBI from Austrian lender Volksbanken AG agreed in February.

Dexia, forced to divest businesses after its state rescue by Belgium, France and Luxembourg last October, would be left only needing to find a buyer for its assets management arm to complete its conversion from lender to 'bad bank' holding.

The price for DenizBank remains to be confirmed.