MADRID, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Spain's second largest bank BBVA said on Friday it was still in talks to sell some of its branches and lease them back from the buyer, but no deal has been closed yet.
Spanish financial daily Expansion said earlier on Friday an unnamed source close to BBVA had confirmed the bank's sale of 1,350 branches to a real estate fund managed by Deutsche Bank for 1.6 billion euros ($2.35 billion).
"This deal (together with a recent bond issue) might raise concerns over the possibility of BBVA preparing itself for acquisitions. In our view possible expansion movements should not be ruled out," Portuguese bank BPI said in a morning note.
($1=.6802 Euro) (Reporting by Jonathan Gleave; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)