Slovenia's Abanka 9-mo net profit falls to 42.5 mln euro

Abanka’s net interest income edged up to 45.0 million euro from 44.9 million euro, while net fee and commission income rose to 30.3 million euro from 28.2 million euro, the bank said in an unaudited financial statement filed with the Ljubljana Stock Exchange (LJSE).

The bank's total assets increased to 3.8 billion euro at the end of September from 3.7 billion euro a year earlier.

“The Bank has high liquidity and a strong capital base, which is also reflected in the liquidity and capital ratios. As at the reporting date, Abanka’s total capital ratio stood at 23.5%,” the bank noted.

In the January-September period, the Abanka Group continued to reduce its non-performing loan ratio, which decreased by 1.0 percentage point to 3.6% as at the reporting date.

Slovenia’s sovereign holding company, SDH, said in June that it has signed an agreement with local Nova Kreditna Banka Maribor (NKBM) for the sale of 100% of Abanka for a total consideration of 511 million euro, with the completion of the acquisition subject to regulatory and other necessary approvals. The value of the agreement includes a dividend in the amount of 67 million euro which was paid out to the seller in May, prior to the signing of the agreement, SDH, acting on behalf of the Slovenian government, said.

NKBM is owned by investment funds affiliated with and managed by Apollo Global Management (80%) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (20%).

A merger between Abanka and NKBM would create a bank that will hold around 22.5% market share. Slovenia's largest bank, Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB), holds a market stake of around 23%.

($=0.90768 euro)