Italian insurance giant Generali has acquired a stake of less than 2% in Bulgarian insurance company DZI, Dnevnik learnt on Thursday, June 29. The transaction was conducted on the Vienna Stock Exchange with Bank Austria Creditanstalt and its subsidiary HVB Bank Biochim acting as intermediaries. In March DZI Group sold to institutional investors from Austria, Britain and Germany a 25% stake in the eponymous bank and 10% in the insurance company. Generali most likely acquired the DZI shares via their Austrian division Generali Vienna Group. The Italians have reiterated their interest in Bulgaria on a number of occasions over the past few years. They were considered a potential bidder of DZI at the time of its privatisation. At Monday's AGM, the DZI shareholders decided to capitalise 2004's profit of 4.211 mln levs.