The Slovenian Sovereign Holding (SDH), which acts on behalf of the State, sold 1,999,999 shares of NLB (representing a 10% stake in the bank) through an accelerated book building process yesterday.

The sale price for GDRs was GBP 10.95 while shares were sold at EUR 54.75. When compared to yesterday’s closing price this represents a 6% discount. One should note that the whole process was done under a veil of secrecy as no prior announcement regarding the bookbuild was released. As a result, the process seemed more like a private placement which left many local investors, who failed to participate, feeling bitter.

Note that the sale was done due to the Government’s obligation to reduce their share in the company down to 25% + 1 share, as stated by the European Commission.

Due to the lack of publicly available information, we are unable to provide more detail but will continue to carefully monitor the situation, and report on any new development.

As a reminder, NLB IPOed back in November of 2018 with a price of EUR 51.50 per share (EUR 10.30 per GDR, with 5 GDRs representing 1 share), putting the valuation at 0.67x P/B.