The capital increase of Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB), which was supposed to start today, has been postponed to the first quarter of 2010, confirmed the largest Slovenian bank. The subscription of newly issued shares up to the amount of 250 million euros, which was supposed to start on December 28 and last until January 11 of the following year, has been postponed based on an agreement between the two largest shareholders of the bank, as stated in NLB’s announcement, adding that according to the plan, the capital increase is postponed to the first quarter of next year.
The main shareholders of the bank are the state through its funds and the Belgian financial group KBC, whose share has been reduced from 34 percent in the last capital increase conducted a year and a half ago to 30.6 percent. The Belgian group entered NLB in 2002 with the ambition to gradually take over the controlling stake in the largest Slovenian bank, but after its request to increase its stake was rejected, it announced that its shares in NLB are no longer a strategic investment and that it will sell them on the market, which has not happened so far. Slovenian media reported on Monday that the Slovenian government and the Belgian bank co-owner of NLB have not been able to agree on the terms under which KBC would participate in the capital increase in the past month since the announcement of the capital increase, which it rejected in 2008 when NLB was capitalized mainly by Slovenian co-owners.
