The decision was announced to the press by Kržan and Glavina on the sidelines of a session of the SSH supervisory board.

Glavina, who has been rumoured to face dismissal from the helm of SSH for a while, was appointed the interim CEO in July 2016 after serving as a supervisor since the spring of 2015. She was appointed for a full term in February 2017.

She succeeded Marko Jazbec, who resigned over SSH's proposal to replace three supervisors at the port operator Luka Koper, which raised controversy and was met with resistance from the local community and the in-house trade union.

What marked Glavina's term the most is the privatisation of the NLB bank and the restructuring and sale of the automotive parts maker Cimos to the Italian fund Palladio Finanziaria.

Glavina, who previously worked as executive director of Austrian Imsa Group, was the third CEO of the state asset custodian, which was established in June 2014.

Kržan, who was appointed SSH supervisor in June 2017 and became the chief supervisor this January, holds a master's degree in economics and has extensive experience in corporate management, according to SSH.

He was the chairman of the Trebnje-based maker of prefabricated building components Trimo for two years and also worked in the pharmaceutical company Krka and insulating material producer Ursa Slovenija.

Kržan told the press that SSH had made good results under Glavina. "Despite the sale of some key assets, preliminary data show that SSH recorded a 6.3% return on capital last year, which exceeds the plans."

He said he would not be running for a full term after his interim post expired, and that he expected that the new CEO with a full term would be appointed in two months at the most.

The most serious candidate, according to media reports, is Andrej Božič, the former chairman of the glass maker Steklarna Hrastnik, who is currently a member of the SSH management board.

Kržan will be replaced as the chief supervisor by Karmen Dietner, the boss of the Pokojninska Družba A pension fund who was appointed supervisor last December.

Glavina said she was leaving SSH in a good shape and with record results. "I'm proud of my work in this institution, but the time has come to look forward to new challenges," she added.

She did not explicitly deny the possibility of staying at SSH, while dismissing the reports that she was interested in becoming a member of the management board of the state-owned real estate investment firm DSU.