Ljubljana, 24 December (STA) - The insurance group Sava Re has signed a deal with the NKBM bank to buy a 77% stake in the mutual fund manager KBM Infond. While is not known how much it has paid for the deal, the newspaper Finance had reported about the stake being worth around EUR 25m as the buyer competed for it with the rival insurer Zavarovalnica Triglav.
The transaction is pending approval of the relevant regulatory bodies, Sava Re said in a press release on Monday as it announced the deal with the Maribor-based bank.
In addition to Sava Re and Triglav Skladi, a mutual fund manager owned by Zavarovalnica Triglav, also reported as interested in buying the stake in KBM Infond was the Slovenian subsidiary of the Italian insurer Generali.
The insurance and reinsurance group had been considered as the most likely buyer, having already owned a 15% stake in KBM Infond through its insurer Zavarovalnica Sava.
Established in 1993, KBM Infond today manages more than EUR 300m in assets for more than 80,000 investors in an umbrella fund and 22 sub-funds.
This puts it among the largest asset managers in Slovenia with a 12% market share, according to the company's website.