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EBRD to take minority stake in SKB Banka of Slovenia
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will purchase up to 58,500 common shares, at a cost of up to DM 31.5 million (ECU 16.6 million), in SKB Banka, the second-largest bank in Slovenia.
David Hexter, Director of Financial Institutions at the EBRD, said: "This equity investment will increase the capital of Slovenia's major private sector bank, which in turn will expand the amount of private banking activity within Slovenia. Our objectives are twofold: to contribute to SKB's institutional development and to strengthen its capital base in support of its medium-term business plan. The EBRD's participation in this share offering, the first rights offering for a listed company on the Slovenian stock exchange, will also encourage domestic and international demand for SKB stock."
The EBRD's participation in the capital increase is expected to attract new domestic and foreign investors, thereby helping SKB to acquire its planned level of new capital resources. With the capital increase, SKB will be in a strong position to increase its core lending business, develop new products benefiting Slovenia's emerging private sector companies, and be a significant force in the restructuring of the banking sector.
Through its minority shareholding the EBRD will be represented on SKB's Supervisory Board. The EBRD's investment is the result of a relationship which has developed between SKB and the EBRD over the past two years. In February 1994, the EBRD signed a DM 50 million loan to SKB for on-lending to the local private sector.
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