Serbian lender AIK Banka a.d. Beograd submitted a request to convene an extraordinary shareholders meeting at Gorenjska banka d.d. Kranj to appoint three new members to the Slovenian bank's supervisory board, Delo reported May 22.
AIK Banka is the second-largest shareholder of Gorenjska and currently owns 32.47% of the Slovenian lender after recently purchasing a 6.81% stake from Slovenia's Bank Assets Management Company.
Slovenian financial conglomerate Sava is the largest shareholder, holding a 37% stake in Gorenjska, but its voting rights were suspended by the Slovenian central bank in 2015, when it requested Sava to divest its stake in the lender. With Sava's voting rights suspended, AIK Banka, which already has one representative on Gorenjska's supervisory board, may be able to significantly influence the outcome of shareholder voting and secure four out of six seats on the board, Delo noted.
AIK Banka had originally wanted to acquire a majority stake in Gorenjska from a consortium of its shareholders, including Sava. However, the Serbian bank failed to provide all regulatory approvals for the purchase within a deadline set by Sava, which now wants to sell its stake in Gorenjska to its creditors. The largest creditors include state-owned Slovenian Sovereign Holding and its affiliated KAD pension fund, as well as Luxembourg-based York Fund, all of which are also shareholders of Sava.
The sale of the Gorenjska banka stake to Sava's shareholders would unblock the voting rights, providing counterweight to AIK Banka during the requested shareholders meeting at Gorenjska.
However, if Sava's shareholders do not manage to approve the sale during their June 22 meeting and do not secure regulatory approvals from the Slovenian central bank for the purchase, AIK Banka will be able to push its candidates, effectively taking control of Gorenjska banka's supervisory board, Delo said.
