TWO EUROPEAN BANKS BUY 35% OF SLAVONSKA BANKA SHARES

( Editorial: --> 8369 ) OSIJEK, July 17 (Hina) - Representatives of Slavonska Banka from Osijek on Friday signed a contract on the sale of 35 per cent of the bank's shares to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Hypo Bank from Klagenfurt. Each of the two banks has become the owner of 17.5% of the shares. The signing of the contract marks the completion of a restructuring and privatisation process in the largest bank in the Slavonia region. The contract was signed by Slavonska Banka management director Ivan Mihaljevic, director of the State Agency for Deposit Insurance and Restructuring of Banks, Mladen Sunjic, EBRD director for new business deals and issuing of guarantees, Garin Anderson, and Hypo Bank management director Wolfgang Kulterer. Slavonska Banka is the first Croatian bank to start and complete the process of restructuring and privatisation, Sunjic said. According to the contract, the State Agency for Deposit Insurance and Restructuring of Banks, which was a 35% owner of Slavonska Banka, is no longer in the shareholder structure as of today, Sunjic said. The price of one share was 1,650 kuna and the nominal value of a share is 1,300 kuna, he added. The ownership structure of Slavonska Banka now includes the two European banks (35%), physical and legal entities (46%), the state (nine per cent) and the bank itself (10%). EBRD director Anderson described the signing of the contract as an important event in the bank's history. Wolfgang Kulterer of Hypo Bank said that his state believed in the Croatian economy. The bank's general assembly has been announced for October, when the new supervisory board is to be appointed. The board will have five members - one from EBRD and Hypo Bank each and three from Osijek-Baranja County. (hina) rml 172201 MET jul 98