Page 10 - bne_Magazine_July_2017

10 I Companies & Markets bne July 2017
Headquarters of Nova Ljubljanska Banka. AP Photo/Darko Bandic
NLB float flop tarnishes Slovenia’s
reputation among investors
bne IntelliNews
The Slovenian government has scrapped plans for the IPO of the country’s largest lender Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NLB) after the ruling coalition failed to agree on the pricing of the offer.
The decision further tarnishes Slovenia’s reputation among investors, coming as it does after a series of aborted priva- tisations, including the high profile failure of the Telekom Slovenije sale in 2015.
It also leaves Ljubljana scrabbling for a way to comply with
its commitment to the European Commission to sell off the wholly state-owned bank, while at the same time keeping the notoriously privatisation-averse population sweet ahead of the 2018 general election.
According to a statement from Prime Minister Miro Cerer, the main reason for dropping the IPO plans, which were already at an advanced stage, was a dispute over pricing; his cabinet had rejected €55 as the minimum bid price per share earlier in the day.
www.bne.eu
This had been proposed by Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SSH), which manages state assets, and had recommended a price range of €55 to €71. The decision followed rumours of a rift between Cerar’s Modern Centre Party (SMC), its coalition partner the Democratic Party of Pensioners (DeSUS), and SSH.
“The government has not approved the minimum price. Its key job now is to look for and find better solutions in cooperation with the European Commission,” Cerar told a press conference on June 8.
The other issue that scuppered the IPO was an ongoing lawsuit over Yugoslav-era deposits held by now-defunct Ljubljanska banka (LB), to which NLB is the successor, the government statement said. These deposits were repaid to Croatian sav-
ers by the Croatian state, which then authorised Croatian commercial banks to recover them in court. The liabilities are estimated at €350mn to €400mn.
There was already speculation that the IPO was dead in the water on May 29, when the government refused to provide