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* Chairman tells Handelsblatt won't list or sell HVB
* No comment on possible sale, listing of Pioneer
* Source says Pioneer is core business for now
MILAN, March 17 (Reuters) - Italy's biggest bank by assets,UniCredit SpA, ruled out on Monday a possible sale orlisting of its German unit HVB, while declining to comment on apress report it is considering those options for asset managerPioneer.
Late on Sunday, the Financial Times reported that UniCreditwas considering putting up for sale or floating Pioneer, valuedat over 2 billion euros ($2.8 billion), as early as next year.
In the same article, the British newspaper said the bank wasalso considering similar moves for HVB further down the line.
"We will not list HVB. We don't want to sell HVB. It is a'jewel' that makes us very happy," UniCredit Chairman GiuseppeVita told Germany's Handesblatt newspaper.
"Germany remains one of our core businesses," he said,rejecting speculation that has repeatedly surfaced in the Germanpress.
Earlier on Monday, a spokesman for UniCredit declined tocomment on a possible sale or listing of Pioneer.
UniCredit posted a record 14 billion euro loss for 2013 dueto huge writedowns on bad loans and past acquisitions as itmoved to clean up its balance sheet before an industry-widehealth check by European regulators.
UniCredit launched a restructuring plan on the same day,aimed at cutting 8,500 jobs by 2018 - nearly 6 percent of itsworkforce.
The bank, which has been battling a prolonged recession athome, is carrying out a restructuring of its retail bankbusiness in Germany, including cutting 1,675 jobs by 2018, andhas taken 355 million euros in charges.
Germany represents 21 percent of group revenues.
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In an effort to raise capital, UniCredit plans to list itsInternet-banking arm Fineco this year and sell UniCreditManagement Bank, which manages and sells bad debt.
CEO Federico Ghizzoni declined to comment when asked byreporters last week if UniCredit was planning to sell Pioneer.
"For the moment, Pioneer remains core," a source familiarwith the situation said.
The Milan-based lender had tried to sell Pioneer, whichmanages 174 billion euros of assets, four years ago, butabandoned that plan shortly after Federico Ghizzoni took over aschief executive in 2010.
Several European banks, including Lloyds, Santander and Societe Generale, have sold their assetmanagement businesses over the past year in a bid to repaircrisis-battered balance sheets.
In presentation slides of its 2013-2018 business plan,UniCredit said it planned to scale-up Pioneer's asset managementbusiness by increasing its distribution footprint.
The plan targets boosting Pioneer's assets under managementto 263 billion euros by 2018.
