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EBRD buys 19.9% stake in Slovenska Sporitelna
Bank hopes to build on partnership to support Slovak private sector
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development today agreed to purchase a 19.9 per cent share in Slovenska Sporitelna, the largest retail bank in the Slovak Republic. The Bank expects to pay up to or around €98 million for the stake. At a signing in Vienna, the EBRD said its investment in Slovenska was a further significant step towards creating a strong banking sector in the country.
An efficient market economy needs a reliable banking sector, said the EBRD's Business Group Director for Financial Institutions, Kurt Geiger. Slovenska is the biggest retail bank in the country and therefore has tremendous reach to the whole population, including people who simply want somewhere safe to keep their money and entrepreneurs seeking financial support for their business ideas.
In April, Slovenska Sporitelna was privatised to Austria's Erste Bank der Oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG. The EBRD's investment will support Erste's efforts to restructure Slovenska, which currently services around 2 million customers, including more than a quarter of all active businesses in the country.
The EBRD typically promotes the restructuring and privatisation of local banks with the aim of fostering a long-term relationship that allows it to support the private sector at large. Last year, Erste bank became a shareholder in Ceska Sporitelna, in the Czech Republic, in which the EBRD currently holds a 5.9 per cent share. In December the EBRD extended to the bank €20 million from a fund co-financed by the European Union to support small and medium-sized enterprises. Last week the EBRD provided a €20 million credit line to Všeobecná úverová banka, in the Slovak Republic, under the same EBRD/EU fund.
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