Poker for Addiko

Slovenian takeover of Viennese private bank falls through

NLB Bank failed in its takeover of the Viennese private bank Addiko.(Bild: Robson90 - stock.adobe.com)

The major Slovenian bank NLB has failed with its takeover bid for the Austrian Addiko Bank, NLB announced in a press release on Tuesday. NLB offered shareholders 22 euros per share. However, the major bank had been aiming for a qualified majority stake and a minimum acceptance threshold of 75 percent of Addiko shares from the outset.

By the end of the offer period, only 36.39 percent had been deposited with the payment and settlement agent. It was clear from the outset that the minimum acceptance threshold was a hurdle: after all, the free float of Addiko Bank, which emerged from the Hypo Alpe Adria Balkan banks, is only 49.2 percent.

Big player in the Balkans
The largest shareholders include the Serbian companies Alta Pay and Diplomat Pay, which together hold 19.62 percent of Addiko Bank. The ECB has therefore declared that the voting rights associated with these shares will be suspended for the time being. There are also a few institutional investors, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

"The settlement of the offer will therefore not take place and the offer will not be extended in accordance with section 3 para 3 of the Takeover Act," NLB announced on Tuesday evening. The Addiko Management Board found NLB's offer to be financially attractive and spoke to the shareholders in favor of accepting the offer.

Bidding duel for Addiko
However, NLB was not the only bidder for the Addiko shares: Agri Europe Cyprus, which is attributed to Serbian businessman Miodrag Kostić, also submitted a bid. However, it only offered EUR 16.24 per share to increase its stake in Addiko Bank from the current 9.99 percent to 27 percent.

"NLB is failing on its own", commented Florian Beckermann, CEO of the interest group for investors, on the result. "The offer was disheartening, now comes the receipt with only 36.39 percent of the shares offered out of the targeted 75 percent: on the one hand, it was not attractive enough to be economically convincing, on the other hand, NLB did not want to get into the ring with other minority shareholders," added Beckermann.