Apollo, EBRD to buy Slovenian bank NKBM for 250 mln euros

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By Marja Novak

LJUBLJANA, June 30 (Reuters) - U.S. investment firm Apollo Global Management and the EBRD will buy Slovenia's second-largest bank Nova KBM (NKBM) for 250 million euros ($279 million), the bank, sale coordinator and the buyers said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

They said Apollo would acquire 80 percent of the state-owned bank while the EBRD (European Bank For Reconstruction and Development) would purchase the remaining 20 percent.

"We believe that NKBM has tremendous growth potential and we remain committed ... to deliver excellence in services to current and future clients," said Gernot Lohr, a senior partner at Apollo.

EBRD Managing Director Nick Tesseyman said the EBRD will work closely with the new majority owner to support the restructuring of the bank which was rescued by the state in 2013.

NKBM is one of 15 firms that were earmarked for privatisation in 2013 and the fifth of those to be sold.

"The sale shows that Slovenia is determined to proceed with privatisation that was designed in 2013 but I believe the country should pursue privatisation beyond that in order to reduce the influence of politics on the economy," said Saso Stanovnik, chief economist of the investment firm Alta Invest.

In December 2013 the government had to pour more than 3 billion euros of its own money into local banks, including NKBM, to prevent them from collapsing under a large amount of bad loans and enable the country to avoid a bailout.

Slovenia has been reluctant to sell its major banks over the past decades so the state controls about half of banking sector.

($1 = 0.8969 euros) (Reporting By Marja Novak; Editing by Pravin Char and David Evans)