LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), November 15 (SeeNews) – Slovenia will continue with the sale of the rest of the shares of Nova Ljubljanska Banka [LJE: NLB] up to 75% minus one share until the end of 2019, having successfully completed the initial public offering of NLB stock, the head of the country's sovereign holding company SDH said.
Slovenia remains the largest individual shareholder of NLB which will continue to represent an important part of the financial pillar of equity investments managed by SDH, the president of the management board of SDH, Lidia Glavina, was quoted as saying in a press release issued by NLB on Thursday.
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The admission to trading of NLB on the stock exchanges in Ljubljana and London on Wednesday marks the successful completion of the public offering of NLB shares, the bank noted.
Slovenia thereby met the first and most important part of the commitments made to the European Commission, related to the granting of state aid in 2013, state secretary at the ministry of finance Metod Dragonja, said in the press release.
In the public offering Slovenia sold 11,818,181 or 59.1% of all NLB shares for 51.50 euro ($58.77) per share. With the enforcement of a special stabilisation option, the share can grow up to 65% and the proceeds for the state to 669.5 million euro, NLB said.
Since 2013, when Slovenia invested 1.551 billion euro into NLB, the state's budget has received income of 378 million euro arising from NLB dividends, SDH said in a separate statement on Wednesday. Thus, proceeds received from the sale together with dividends paid out have amounted to almost 1 billion euro.
"When adding this amount to the value of ownership interest retained by the Republic of Slovenia in NLB and future dividends to arise from its stake, it is clear that the investment by the state into the bank will be fully repaid," SDH noted.
The IPO came in response to the commitment of Slovenia undertaken as part of the restructuring plan of NLB agreed with the European Commission under state aid procedure in 2013. Nova Ljubljanska Banka has been 100% state-owned since 2013, when the Slovenian government stepped in to recapitalise it. The same year, Slovenia committed to the European Commission to sell part of NLB.
While Slovenia will retain a stake of 25% plus one share in NLB, it committed to sell at least 50% plus one share in 2018, and any outstanding share of up to 75% minus one share by the end of 2019.
Shares of Nova Ljubljanska Banka generated a trading volume of 2.9 million euro upon their debut on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange on Wednesday, contributing more than half of the bourse's total daily turnover, according to LJSE data. NLB closed at 56.65 euro on Wednesday, as 51,174 shares changed hands.
Also on Wednesday, NLB's global depositary receipts representing the bank's shares were admitted to trade on the London Stock Exchange's main market for listed securities.
NLB is holding around 23% of total banking assets in Slovenia. It provides universal banking services and has a strong presence through its core subsidiaries in five countries of Southeast Europe.
($ = 0.88823 euro)
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