AIK Banka makes highest bid for Slovenian Abanka

Serbian AIK Banka has made the highest bid for the purchase of Slovenian Abanka. Blic writes that, unofficially, EUR 480 million was offered, whereas the book value of Abanka amounted to EUR 583 million at the end of 2018.

Nova KBM Banka, owned by the Apollo fund and the EBRD, and Hungarian OTP Banka made lower bids. As the Maribor-based daily Vecer reports, the Hungarian bank has reduced its interest and activities toward acquiring Abanka, as it has become clear that they will enter the Slovenian banking market through the Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SDH).

Abanka had a net profit of EUR 66.7 million in 2018, which is EUR 24 million more than in 2017. At the end of 2018, the bank had 1,010 employees and a total balance of over EUR 3.7 billion.

The final word will be given by the regulatory authorities, that is, the Bank of Slovenia and the European Central Bank (ECB). Considering that Abanka has the status of a systemic bank in Slovenia, from the regulators' angle, it will be harder to acquire than Gorenjska Banka. In theory, it could happen that SDH sells Abanka to AIK Banka, but the transaction could be stopped by the ECB.

ABANKA d.d. Ljubljana

AIK Banka a.d. Beograd

Nova KBM d.d. Maribor

OTP BANK Budapest, Hungary

Slovenski državni holding Ljubljana

Banka Slovenije Ljubljana

European Central Bank Germany - Evropska Centralna Banka

GORENJSKA BANKA d.d. Kranj

Miodrag Kostić

bid for Abanka

privatization of Abanka

purchase of Abanka