Custodian of state assets busy in 2016

NKBM bank and flag carrier Adria Airways get new owners

SSH concluded two major sales in 2016, the April sale of NKBM to US private equity fund Apollo and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the March sale of Slovenia's flag carrier Adria Airways to German fund 4K Invest.

The custodian of state assets sold NKBM for EUR 250m, but criticism that the price was to low due to EUR 870m recapitalisation in late 2013 can still be heard.

The state meanwhile had to inject EUR 3.1m of fresh capital in Adria before SSH, the Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC) and the state could share a symbolic sum of EUR 100,000 they got for the flag carrier.

The public was no happier with the sale of Adria than it was with the sale of NKBM, because the new owner continues to restructure the company. Jobs have been lost, the 13 planes...