LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), October 11 (SeeNews) – Slovenia's state holding company SDH said on Thursday it is inviting expression of interest for the sale of 100% shareholding interest in state-owned banking group Abanka.
The deadline for submitting expression of interest is October 26, 17.00 CET, SDH said in a statement.
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The seller, acting on behalf of the government, has appointed French banking group BNP Paribas to act as its sole financial advisor and conduct a multi-stage sale process to select the preferred counterparty for the transaction, the statement reads.
“Following the expression of interest, qualified parties will, in subsequent phases, be requested to provide a non-binding offer for the transaction, before binding offers are solicited from the parties that reach that phase of the process. The seller intends to complete the process as smoothly as possible while maximising sale proceeds and transaction certainty.”
Established in 1955, Abanka is the third largest banking group in Slovenia with 9.6% market share by total assets. Abanka provides a wide range of financial services to its clients and benefits from an extensive network of 55 branches throughout the country.
Abanka said last month that its non-consolidated net profit increased to 40.4 million euro ($46.7 million) in the first half of 2018, from 32.5 million euro in the like period of last year.
In 2013, the Slovenian government had to step in and recapitalise Abanka with 348 million euro whilst also seizing control of the bank. In October 2015, Abanka and its state-owned peer Banka Celje merged. Banka Celje ceased to exist as an independent legal entity. Abanka as the acquiring company and universal legal successor entered all legal relations concerning its peer.