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Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali and Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB) MP Branislav Maric signed a “Share Transfer Agreement” between Serbia and a Slovenian bank, ending the sale process of 83.23 percent of the shares of Komercijalna Banka Belgrade and paying 395 percent to the state budget. millions of euros.
Mali said that “today is a great day” for the Serbian banking and financial sector, because “a major transaction has been completed.”
He assessed that Komercijalna Banka’s sale procedure is transparent and professional, announced the Ministry of Finance.
“Apart from the 395 million euros that was paid to the budget of the Republic of Serbia today, I will remind you that about 60 million euros, or about seven billion dinars, was paid earlier in the budget, of which 3.7 billion euros. dinars refer to the contractual obligation to obtain half for last year, distribute through a dividend, ”said the finance minister.
He added that with the completion of all transactions, Serbia has a total of 450 million euros in revenue from the sale of Komercijalna Banka.
“We receive a price that is above the upper range of the bank’s valuation, made by our financial advisor ‘Lazard’, and we can be very satisfied,” said Mali.
According to him, the sale of Komercijalna Banka is an indicator that foreign investors still believe in Serbia, despite all the challenges and crises facing the whole world this year.
With this investment, he noted, the total inflow of foreign direct investment into Serbia in 2020 will amount to almost three billion euros.
He mentioned that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Komercijalna banka goes to pay off old and expensive debts from 2012.
“We have received the consent of the Government of Azerbaijan for the proceeds from the sale of Komercijalna Banka to be used for the early repayment of the Azerbaijan loan, which is due 2027. This loan financed the construction of the Ljig-Preljina highway, and its amount was 300 million euros, with an interest rate of four percent. The total balance of the debt to date amounts to 172.7 million euros, and it has been fully amortized “, said the Minister of Estate.
He stated that by early repayment of this debt, Serbia saved 25.9 million euros of the interest it would pay until maturity in 2027.
“After prepayment, the share of public debt in GDP will be 57.8 percent at the general government level, or 56.8 percent at the central level,” emphasized the Finance Minister, emphasizing that Serbia managed to maintain macroeconomic stability and maintaining a difficult year. public finances under control.
All this, he evaluated, contributed to “having the best results in Europe in terms of economic growth, so that Serbia will end this year with the smallest decline in Europe.”
Minister very satisfied with the sale
The Minister thanked all those who participated in the sale of Komercijalna Banka shares and indicated that he was very satisfied that such a serious financial institution with a strategy and vision, such as the NLB Group, recognized the interest in buying Komercijalna shares. Banka.
The Chairman of the NLB Board of Directors, Blaž Brodnjak, welcomed his colleagues from Komercijalna Banka to the NLB Group.
“We are also very proud to have completed this acquisition process in accordance with the timelines we set at the time of signing. This transaction is another important point in the transformation of the NLB Group into a regional champion,” said Brodnjak.
He stated that this step will not change the overall strategic approach of the NLB Group, nor will it affect its vision: “We are committed to building a modern, digitized and efficient bank and to becoming the leading bank in the Serbian market by 2025.”
“We will continue to support the community in general and our goal is to contribute to a better quality of life in the region through a responsible and sustainable business approach, as well as the role we have in society as a systemic institution,” said the executive director by NLB.
History
The process of finding a strategic partner for Komercijalna Banka started with a public call on May 31, 2019. The investment bank “Lazard”, which was the advisor to Serbia in this process, contacted 28 financial institutions from all over the world, half of which were banks and the other half mutual funds.
Of that number, six sent letters of interest and then came first four non-binding offers, and then three binding ones, the best of which was the NLB offer.
83.23 percent of the bank’s ordinary shares were sold for 387.02 million euros, increased by interest at an interest rate of two percent per annum, for the period between January 1, 2020 and the date of completion of the operation.
The contract stipulates that 50 percent of the reported earnings for 2019 will be paid as a dividend, on the basis of which the state of Serbia had 32 million euros of revenue.
Furthermore, the payment of dividends from previous years was foreseen, which gave Serbia 27 million euros of income.
The privatization of Komercijalna Banka is part of Serbia’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund, the Finance Ministry announced.
