Nova KBM to take over Slovenia’s Abanka

Nova KBM, a subsidiary of US fund Apollo, will take over Slovenian state-owned Abanka after submitting the highest bid. The price of the deal is expected to be disclosed in the coming days, but media outlets are valuing the transaction at around €500m. Abanka is the country’s third largest bank, with €3.73bn worth of assets at the end of 2018 and a profit of €66m. The lender reported a profit of €18.6m in the first quarter of 2019, down 27 percent y-o-y. Nova KBM is the second biggest bank in Slovenia, with assets totaling nearly €5bn at the end of 2018 and a profit of €75m