Lithuania Ukio Bank sells units to boost liquidity

VILNIUS, July 25 (Reuters) - Lithuania's Ukio Bank (UKB1L.VL) said on Friday it sold three subsidiaries to boost its liquidity base after reporting 1.6 percent net profit growth for the first half of this year.

"The funds received will be used to strengthen the liquidity base and expand lending in Lithuania," the bank said in a statement to the Vilnius Stock Exchange.

The deal was worth a total 282.8 million Lithuanian litas ($128.6 million), it added.

The bank said it pocketed 27 million litas profit from selling the shares and claims of its subsidiaries involved in a real estate project in Moscow.

Ukio Bank posted unaudited net profit of 50.6 million litas for the first six months of this year, up from 49.8 million litas during the same period in 2007.

The bank's shares closed on Friday at 2.65 litas, down 2.2 percent on the day. (Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Will Waterman)