Slovenia’s Banka Celje Raises 27 Mln Euro in First Phase of Cap Hike, Posts 9-mo Gross Profit of 21.6 Mln Euro

The bank will offer the unsubscribed shares in the second phase of the capital increase, which will last from October 21 until October 27, it said in a statement.

Banka Celje said last month it will offer its shareholders 69,205 ordinary shares at a price of 413 euro each and 17,301 preference shares at a price of 371 euro each, seeking to raise a total of 35 million euro.

In a separate statement on Thursday, Banka Celje said it had a gross profit of 21.6 million euro in the first nine months of 2008, but gave no comparative figure. The bank's assets rose by an annual 5.0% to 2.426 billion euro through September.

The bank's biggest single shareholder is Slovenia’s largest bank by assets, Nova Ljubljanska Banka, with a 49.4% stake at the end of June.

Banka Celje is a privately-owned universal bank. At the end of June, it had 36 outlets in Slovenia, employed 613 and had a market share of around 6.0% in terms of assets.

Eighteen banks operate in Slovenia, a member of the eurozone since 2007.

($ = 0.7435 euro)