UniCredit said on Monday it would sell its remaining 20% stake in Yapı Kredi Bank by March 2022, as the Italian bank reduces its exposure to Turkey's third biggest lender in a strategic move to optimize its asset allocations.

Under the deal, Turkey's Koç Holding will buy 18% of Yapı Kredi's shares for 300 million euros ($346.62 million), the Italian lender said in a statement.

The share sale, expected to occur in the first quarter of 2022, comes after Koç Holding and UniCredit signed an agreement in 2019. The companies had struck a deal to change the ownership structure of Yapı Kredi, which both companies had controlled via a joint venture.

The other 2% of shares are expected to be sold on the market, UniCredit said.

The holding, meanwhile, will make a mandatory share purchase offer since its share in the bank exceeds the 50% threshold, according to the statement made to the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) by Koç Holding.

Through the joint venture, UniCredit had indirectly held 40% of Yapı Kredi. However, unwinding of the joint venture handed UniCredit a direct 31.9% stake, of which 12% was sold in February 2020.

UniCredit added that the deal will have an overall low-mid single-digit positive impact on the lender's consolidated CET1 ratio – a measure to gauge a bank's ability to withstand financial distress by comparing its capital against its risk-weighted assets.