Austria "bad bank" Heta says Balkan sale on track

VIENNA, July 1 (Reuters) - Austrian "bad bank" Heta Asset Resolution is on track sell its Balkan network to U.S. private equity firm Advent and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development pending regulatory approval, Heta said on Wednesday.

Heta, the state wind-down vehicle for failed lender Hypo Alpe Adria, had said in June that uncertainties still existed about the deal, which would see the Balkan network sold for up to 200 million euros ($222 million). Heta had aimed to close the deal by June 30.

Heta said on Wednesday that the deal was all but completed and that the final closing will conclude once the European Central Bank and Austria's financial watchdog FMA approve a banking license extension request for Advent, which is expected in the coming weeks.

"We're very confident that the planned sale can be closed in the very near term," an Advent spokesman said. The sale includes banks located in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro.

Austria's FMA financial watchdog took control of Heta in March and froze more than 11 billion euros in debt repayments under new EU rules on "bailing in" creditors of ailing financial institutions so that taxpayers alone do not have to shoulder the burden.

Austria's actions have triggered an avalanche of legal action by angered investors who thought they held had iron-clad state guarantees on Heta debt. ($1 = 0.8997 euros) (Reporting by Thomas Atkins and Angelika Gruber, editing by Louise Heavens)