USA's Apollo to take over NKBM soon

According to the media in Slovenia, an agreement to sell 100% stake in Slovenia's state-owned bank NKBM to the US private equity fund Apollo is in the final phase of preparation and may be signed this or the next week.

Slovenian State Holding (SDH), which runs the privatization process, and Apollo, which is left alone in the race for the acquisition of NKBM, is working on final operational details prior to the signing of sale agreement. Apollo has offered to pay EUR 200 million for the 100 percent stake in NKBM which turned a consolidated net profit of EUR 23.3 million last year.

The bank with nearly 1,800 employees is 100% owned by the state which intends to sell it because NKBM has been on the list of 25 state-owned companies for which strategic investors are sought since 2013. Some sources say that the interest in buying NKBM has also been expressed by OTP.