Austria has reopened the sale of the Balkan network of nationalised bank Hypo Alpe Adria, with no exclusivity for a bidder group led by Advent International, sources close to the matter said.

Hypo had agreed in principle to sell the asset to US private equity group Advent and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

But after an extended deadline for a contract signing expired late on Thursday, other suitors who had submitted formal bids will be allowed back into the process, the sources said on condition they not be identified.

They stressed the sale process was still on, but would take weeks longer to wrap up, pushing a deal into next year. Advent had said on Thursday it was still working to clinch a deal.

State holding company Fimbag, which bought the asset from Hypo at the end of last month pending a deal with Advent, is now in charge of selling the business, the sources said. Hypo had been in charge.

A group of Bulgarian investors led by airline and property owner Denis Barekov and backed by Russian financial group VTB had been in the hunt, as had Russian investor Igor Kim's Expobank.

The Austrian finance ministry and Hypo, now called Heta Asset Resolution after being converted into a 'bad bank' to wind down remaining assets, declined comment.-Reuters