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Southeast Europe
October 20, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 15
Ever since he was elected as a deputy to the Na- tional Assembly in 1992, he has consistently pur- sued the country’s Euro-Atlantic integration, and pushed for its membership in the EU and Nato.
His later career as prime minister of Slovenia was not illustrious. Coming to power in November 2008, he served less than three years before losing a confidence vote in September 2011. His tenure as prime minister was also marked by
one of the Eurozone's deepest recessions with Slovenia’s GDP shrinking more than 7.8% in 2009.
Greek banks continue retreat from Southeast Europe
bne IntelliNews
Small Serbian private lender Direktna Banka Kragujevac has acquired lender Piraeus Bank Beograd, the local arm of Greek Piraeus Banking Group.
Piraeus Bank, which has been present on the Serbian market since its acquisition of Atlas bank in May 2005, is now one of several major Greek banking groups looking to exit the region as they restructure post-crisis.
Direktna is buying Piraeus Bank Beograd for a total cash consideration between €58mn up to €61mn, depending on the financial performance of the divested assets until completion of the transaction, through a combination of direct sale price and simultaneous reduction of capital in Piraeus Bank Beograd.
As president, the centre-left Pahor has continued to be a staunch believer in ever closer union within Europe.
This puts him in stark contrast to the shift to- wards populist euroscepticism among many of the political leaders in the nearby Visegrad Four states. Under Pahor and Prime Minister Miro Cer- ar, Slovenia — the first state from the SEE region to join the EU and the only one to have adopted the euro so far — promises continuity as a small but staunch member of the Euro-Atlantic camp.
Piraeus Bank CEO Christos Megalou announced on June 9 that the Greek banking group was planning to sell off its business in the Balkans as well as reducing its bad loans portfolio, Blic reported on June 12.
Meanwhile, Direktna Banka Kragujevac has been expanding its market presence rapidly as in February it acquired 100% of Findomestic Banka Beograd from its parent Findomestic Banca SpA Italy, part of BNP Paribas.
“In accordance with our restructuring plan commitments to reduce our international presence, we are announcing the sale of our Serbian operations to Direktna Banka after
a highly competitive sale process. We believe that Piraeus Bank AD Beograd customers and