Slovenia sells second largest bank NKBM to US fund and EBRD

Slovenia signed on Tuesday a deal to sell state-owned NKBM, the country's second largest bank, to US fund Apollo and the EBRD, the state holding SDH in charge of privatisation said.

According to the deal, Apollo will buy an 80 percent stake in NKBM with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) acquiring the remaining 20 percent, valuing the Slovenian bank at 250 million euros ($278 million).

Slovenia narrowly avoided a bailout in 2013 when it managed to recapitalise the country's three largest state-owned banks without seeking foreign help.

NKBM, which failed the European Central Bank's stress tests in 2013 and 2014, was among the recapitalised banks along with the country's largest Nova Ljubljanska Banka and Abanka.

The Slovenian government injected in NKBM a total of 870 million euros in 2013 and transferred out over 1.2 billion euros of bad loans.

The recapitalisation was authorised by the European Commission under the condition that the bank would be privatised by the end of 2016.

After the recapitalisation and restructuring, NKBM posted a profit of 35.9 million euros last year compared to a loss of 656 million euros in 2013.