BELGRADE (Serbia), February 28 (SeeNews) – Slovenia's Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB) [LJE:NLBR] expects to take over the management of newly-acquired Serbia's Komercijalna Banka [BEL:KMBN] in the second half of 2020, Serbian media reported on Friday.
"We are likely to take possession of the bank in the third or fourth quarter of the year," news daily Blic quoted NLB CEO, Blaz Brodnjak, as saying in an interview.
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Slovenia's largest bank is also considering entering the markets of Albania and Croatia in the medium term, in order to expand further in Southeast Europe, Brodnjak said.
"We hope for a political agreement which would enable us to do business in Croatia as well," Brodnjak said, adding that NLB is the only banking group in SEE with presence in all markets of the former Yugoslavia, except for Croatia.
"I believe in common economic space, in which local brands are better known and more competitive without borders. In this way, they become stronger to enter other markets, but at the same time more resilient in times of crisis as they are less dependent on global trends," Brodnjak said.
On Thursday, Serbia's government signed an agreement to sell its stake in the capital of Komercijalna Banka for 387 million euro ($425.6 million), subject to a 2% annual interest rate between January 1, 2020, and the closing of the transaction. The sale price implies a valuation of 465 million euro for 100% of Komercijalna Banka's ordinary share capital.
Komercijalna Banka's existing shareholders will also receive a dividend equal to 50% of the 2019 net income, which will allow the Serbian government to generate an additional income of about 31 million euro.
($ = 0.905915 euro)
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