September 20 (SeeNews) - US-headquartered investment fund Apollo Global Management is in the race for the acquisition of a majority stake in Slovenian lender Gorenjska Banka, Slovenian media reported.
The Slovenian government has asked Apollo Global Management and the other bidder, Serbian lender AIK Banka, to improve their bids, and the US investment fund has applied for additional due diligence to study a higher offer, Slovenian daily Delo said on Tuesday.
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Apollo Global Management and AIK Banka had previously offered 235 euro ($281.9) and 285 euro per Gorenjska Banka share, respectively, Delo said.
In February, Slovenia's central bank gave the green light to AIK Banka to increase its stake in Gorenjska Banka to more than 50%.
The Serbian lender, a subsidiary of vertically-integrated agro-industrial conglomerate MK Group, became the second largest shareholder in Gorenjska Banka with a 13.9% stake by investing almost 13 million euro in a share capital increase in January 2016, which the small Slovenian lender needed to meet central bank requirements.
AIK Banka currently controls 20.99% of the capital of Gorenjska Banka. The largest shareholder is business conglomerate Sava with a 37.65% stake, according to data of Gorenjska Banka.
In July 2016, Sava said several shareholders of Gorenjska Banka signed an agreement to jointly sell their stakes, which together exceed 50%. The company did not reveal which other shareholders were going to sell their stakes.
($ = 0.833705 euro)
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