STA, 5 July 2019 - Biser Bidco, the sole owner of Slovenia's second largest bank NKBM, decided on Friday to pay out EUR 5 million in dividends, leaving EUR 126,66 million in profit undistributed.
The EUR 5 million payout is significantly lower than the year before, when Bidco Biser decided to pay out EUR 45.8 million in dividends. The AGM also granted a discharge of liability to the bank's management and supervisory boards.
The Luxembourg-based company is owned by US fund Apollo, which holds 80% of the company, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The two companies signed a contract to buy the Maribor-based state-owned bank for EUR 250m in mid-2015, meeting all the requirements in April 2016.
The AGM comes only a few weeks after NKBM was selected as the best bidder in the privatisation of Abanka. A EUR 444 million sales contract has already been signed, with the transaction pending regulatory approval.
The sale is expected to go through by the end of the year. The NKBM-Abanka merger, which is expected to be wrapped up in the first quarter of 2020, will create the second largest bank group in Slovenia.
