Finland's Sampo sells entire Nordea stake

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Finnish insurer Sampo said on Friday it had sold its remaining stake in banking group Nordea to institutional investors for 1.84 billion euros ($1.94 billion).

Sampo had said on Thursday that it would sell around half its remaining holding in Nordea, after announcing a strategic shift last year to focus on its insurance business and cut its then 15.9% stake in the bank.

"Sampo announced a sale of 100 million shares but the size of the transaction was increased following strong market demand," the company said in a statement on Friday.

The sold stake amounted to 5.2% of shares in the Nordic region's biggest lender. Sampo said the sale would have a positive accounting effect of around 60 million euros on the group's consolidated IFRS net income.

Nordea reported on Thursday quarterly earnings above analysts' estimates, as lending volumes grew and the bank reported no loan losses despite growing financial uncertainty.

The forecast-beating results were seen by analysts as providing Sampo with a favourable opportunity to sell shares in the Nordic region's largest bank, potentially its entire stake.

($1 = 0.9495 euros)

(Reporting by Simon Johnson and Helena Soderpalm; editing by Niklas Pollard)