UPDATE 1-Straumur buys 50 pct of Czech broker Wood & Co

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PRAGUE, June 20 (Reuters) - Icelandic investment bank Straumur-Burdaras acquired a 50 percent stake in leading Czech brokerage and investment bank Wood & Company, taking another step in its international expansion drive.

Straumur has an option to raise its interest in Wood to 100 percent by early 2011, the two parties said in a joint press release on Wednesday.

"Partnering up with a dominant investment house in the fastest growing area in Europe is clearly something that is interesting to us," Straumur Chief Executive William Fall told Reuters in a telephone interview.

The purchase of the Wood stake follows the acquisition of Finnish eQ Bank earlier this year in a deal valuing the bank at 260 million euros ($349.2 million).

Fall said Wood could grow through adding debt-related services to its portfolio and through cooperation with eQ. It may also expand proprietary trading in the future, he said. Wood & Company is owned by four Czechs, including Chairman Jan Sykora, who will continue to run the business.

Wood said it traded securities worth $24 billion last year, and accounted for 30 percent of the turnover in Prague and 6.6 percent in the region.

The price of the cash and stock deal was not disclosed. The acquisition is subject to clearance by the Czech and Icelandic regulators.

Fall, the former head of Bank of America's overseas activities and appointed to head Straumur in May, said the acquisition of Wood was not "material" in terms of changing Straumur's capital structure.

Straumur's stock traded 0.71 percent up at 1335 GMT at 21.15 Icelandic crowns.