Three Leading Companies from the Coast to Keep 30% in Banka Koper until 2006

Ljubljana, 27 February - After the Italian banking group SanPaolo IMI managed to acquire a 62.1-percent stake in what is Slovenia's fifth largest bank in terms of unaudited total assets, SanPaolo IMI is now awaiting the deal to be approved by Slovenia's Securities Market Agency, which has three days to say whether the public bid has succeeded, and by the central bank, whose council is expected to discuss the matter on Thursday.