Slovenia's NKBM plans 40.1 mln euro cap hike

The proposal to issue for payment in cash 38,461,539 freely transferable ordinary registered no-par-value shares with voting rights will be put to a vote at a general shareholders' meeting called for December 11, NKBM said in a bourse filing.

The issue price is set at 1.3 euro per one new share. The lender's capital would rise to 80.9 million euro if the exercise is successful. The pre-emptive rights of existing shareholders to subscribe for new shares will be suspended.

The share capital increase will be considered successful if all new shares are subscribed for and paid in full within seven days of the adoption of the relevant resolution by the shareholders’ meeting.

In June, NKBM's shareholders asked the relevant bodies of the bank to immediately start undertaking capital raising activities, the aim of which is to increase the Core Tier I Capital Ratio to at least 9.0% by the end of December 2012 at the latest.

Within the context of these activities, an independent due diligence review of the NKBM Group was carried out and a process to shed non-core assets was initiated. The sale of the bank’s stake in insurer Zavarovalnica Maribor is underway but since this disposal alone will not be sufficient to increase the Core Tier I capital ratio to the recommended level, the bank said it needs to increase its share capital through issuing shares for cash consideration.

NKBM's shareholders will also vote on a resolution amending the bank's Articles of Association to authorise the managing board, with the consent of the supervisory board and without any additional resolution of the shareholders, to increase, either in one or in several goes, the share capital of the lender by not more than 120.4 million euro over the ensuing five years.

($=0.7729 euro)