The agreement on the transfer of ownership and Hypo's portfolio of about 9,000 contracts on finance lease of movables was signed on Friday, the two banks announced.

They said the transaction would not affect the clients or their contractual relationships and that leasing contracts remained valid until their expiry under unchanged terms.

According to a recent report by daily Dnevnik, Hypo Leasing used to be the market leader in Slovenia, but its market share was reduced from 37.5% in 2007 to 6% at the end of last year.

Gorenjska banka incorporated GB Leasing at the beginning of this year as a specialist in finance lease of movable assets, in particular cars and transport vehicles and equipment.

Since becoming operational in June, GB Leasing has set up a network of 500 sale points across the country, including with all authorised dealers of BMW vehicles, reads the release from Gorenjska banka.

"With the acquisition of Hypo's leasing portfolio we are becoming one of the largest providers of finance lease of movables in Slovenia," said Gorenjska banka chairman Andrej Andoljšek.

Addiko Bank said the sale was bringing it another step closer in their strategy to focus on core activity, after it had recently offloaded its stock broking business.

"We are intensively following our strategy and business philosophy of clear, simple and direct banking," Addiko chairman Matej Falatov was quoted as saying.

Dnevnik reported in September that Addiko Bank was selling its investment business, a portfolio of several thousand clients or a combined EUR 10m in assets, to brokerage Alta Invest.

Addiko Bank changed its corporate image and name in July from Hypo Alpe Adria, after the Austrian bank was taken over in 2015 by US global private equity fund Advent International and the EBRD.

Two biggest single owners of Gorenjska banka are the holding Sava (37.65%) and Serbian AIK banka (19.34%).