[Reuters] Austrian lender Hypo expects clarity on state aid in H1
[HAABI.UL] VIENNA, April 23 (Reuters) - Nationalised Austrian lender Hypo Alpe Adria [HAABI.UL] expects to know by the middle of the year whether the European Commission will approve aid provided by the Austrian government. The Commission's competition chief has criticised the bank and the Austrian government for dragging their feet over a revamp of Hypo, into which the government has injected billions of euros since its privatisation in 2008. [ID:nL6N0C415H] Hypo said in its annual report published on Tuesday it expected to know in the next two months whether, or under what conditions, the state aid will be approved. Hypo, which has pleaded for more time to divest assets at fair prices, reiterated that it aimed to privatise its Austrian unit in the course of 2013. It added that a tentative improvement in the economies of southern and eastern Europe, where it also has a network of banks it wants to sell, would not be enough to pull that unit out of negative territory this year.