KOSTIC: I have no interest in taking over Dezelna banka Slovenije

(Miodrag Kostic)

MK Group's owner Miodrag Kostic, who has recently acquired a 14-percent stake in Gorenjska banka, claims he is not interested in taking over Dezelna banke Slovenije (DBS).

- I am not buying DBS. My interest is to increase the stake in Gorenjska banka. If the price is right, we will get the approval from the Bank of Slovenia and other regulators - said Kostic.

He also stressed that MK Group held a stake in AIK banka, the fifth largest bank in Serbia.

- I am sure that AIK banka can be a consolidator on a regional level. But to achieve that, we have to go outside the borders of Serbia. And by this I don't only mean Slovenia, but also Montenegro and Croatia - he noted.

- If you look at the MK Group development in the past 30 years, you'll see we've not sold almost anything, we grow organically, we are not over-indebted, and all our companies are operating well and making sure about 5,000 employees can make a living from their work - Kostic told the Ljubljana daily Dnevnik.

He denied the speculations that he was only a straw buyer acting on behalf of the U.S. Apollo which would like to become the strongest banking player in Slovenia after acquiring NKBM and Raiffeisen's office in that country.

- A straw buyer is something I have neither been nor will be. These speculations are so bizarre that I really don't want to comment on them any more - Kostic concluded.