April 28 (SeeNews) - Slovenia's biggest lender Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB) is on the verge of selling a bad loan package with a nominal value of 800 million euro ($905.4 million), local media reported on Thursday.
The lender is in the final stage of negotiations with local financial advisory KF Finance and B2 Kapital, the local unit of Norway's B2 Holding, Dnevnik daily reported, quoting sources.
The sources believe that a deal will be signed with KF Finance, which has teamed up with an unnamed British partner, at an 80% discount of the loan portfolio's nominal value, or for about 160 million euro.
NLB's bad loan portfolio (exposures in default for more than 90 days) stood at 14.8 billion euro at end-2015, down from 15.6 billion euro a year earlier.
Earlier this month, the Slovenian state holding company SDH, which is coordinating the privatisation process in the country, hired Deutsche Bank to advise it on the sale of NLB.
NLB posted a consolidated net profit of 91.9 million euro for 2015, up from 62.3 million euro in the previous year.
NLB was one of two Slovenian banks - alongside NKBM, to show a minor capital shortfall under the adverse scenario of the stress test conducted by the European Central Bank (ECB) in October 2014.
The lender has been 100% state property since 2013, when the Slovenian government had to step in and recapitalise it and two other lenders - NKBM and Abanka - narrowly avoiding an international bailout.
($=0.8837 euro)
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