MILAN: UniCredit has repurchased senior bonds maturing in 2016 and 2017 for an overall nominal value of 2.533 billion euros ($3.4bn) in a successful buyback aimed at cutting excess debt and easing the redemption burden in those years.

UniCredit had offered to repurchase up to 2.5 billion euros in senior debt but decided to slightly increase that limit to be able to accept all the securities validly tendered by bondholders, the Italian bank said in a statement on Friday.