After fits and starts, NLB privatised
Ljubljana, 17 December - NLB, the country's largest bank, was privatised in autumn, almost five years after it was bailed out with EUR 1.5bn in taxpayer money to avert a meltdown of the entire banking system. Although a turning point for the bank, privatisation by no means ends the bailout saga.
Ljubljana
The headquarters of the NLB bank in the centre of Ljubljana.
Photo: Bor Slana/STA
The bank was floated in Ljubljana and London in mid-November after an initial public offering at EUR 51.5 per share, which valued the entire bank at roughly EUR 1bn. The price was a boon to investors, who rushed to buy the stock, and indeed the stock quickly gained more than ten percent.
But it also provided fodder for critics who claimed it was sold too cheaply: in 2017 the government had aborted a planned floatation valued at EUR 55-71 per share as inadequate, and that price factored in potential liabilities in Croatia worth hundreds of millions of euros stemming from Yugoslav-era savings deposits that have now been assumed by the state.
With the bank now privatised, Slovenia fulfilled its commitment to rescind total ownership control to abide by EU competition rules, but the financial crisis and the bank bailout continue to cast a long shadow.
Slovenia is yet to privatise Abanka, which was bailed out along with NLB. Just as importantly, it has not yet figured out whether and how to compensate shareholders and junior bondholders who were wiped out in 2013. The Constitutional Court ordered a change of legislation giving plaintiffs better recurse in 2016, but the legislation is still pending.