Slovenia Cleans Portfolio, Shares in Krka, DARS, and Sava for Sale

The Slovenian government is ready to sell state shares in several companies without restrictions, among which the shares of the pharmaceutical company Krka, Pozavarovalnica Sava, and the motorway management company DARS may be of interest to investors.

The ownership stakes in these companies, as well as in the national airline Adria Airways, Bank Celje, Casino Bled, and Casino Portorož, Sava, and Žito, were classified by the government on Wednesday as ‘portfolio’, meaning there is no strategic interest in state control over them, and it is willing to sell them without retaining a quarter of the shares.

The newly established holding of state assets, which manages the state’s ownership portfolio valued at 11 billion euros, will offer such portfolio assets that are of interest in the market or in the sales process and require state support exclusively based on economic criteria.

In contrast to this part of state assets, when managing so-called strategic companies, the state must retain at least 50 percent of the shares, and in ‘important’ companies, at least a quarter.

In Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB), the state will seek to retain a quarter ownership, stated the State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Andrej Šircelj at a press conference after the government session.

Among the companies assessed as portfolio parts of state assets intended for sale are Telekom Slovenije and Ljubljana’s Petrol, but excluding the energy part which will be separated as a strategic part of state assets.

Slovenia intends to retain a larger part of the energy and transport infrastructure in state ownership, and it will also retain 100 percent ownership of SID Bank for export support and shares in companies managed by the state fund KAD.

Deadlines for the sale of state shares have not yet been determined, and besides the price and quality of potential buyers, other elements will also be considered during the sale, such as the business plans of potential buyers, their creditworthiness, and the maintenance of a larger number of jobs, said Šircelj.