The owners of the 868,393 shares, representing 53.99% of the company's share capital, are the state-owned NLB and NKBM banks, insurer Modra zavarovalnica, the state-owned SOD fund, the NFD holding and mutual fund Triglav Skladi.

The shares were put up as collateral for loans.

A transparent international sales process of the majority stake in the company will benefit small shareholders, employees and the company itself, SOD said in a press release.

Iskra Avtoelektrika, which will be officially renamed Letrika as of January, is also listed on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange, where it finished 2.5% higher today at EUR 16.5, bringing its market capitalisation to EUR 26.5m.

The management expects revenue of the core company to reach EUR 188.4m next year and EUR 246.5m at the group level. Despite the crisis, the core company is expected to post EUR 3.7m in profit, while the entire group's profit is to amount to EUR 5.7m.

The business plan for 2013 envisages layoffs both at the core company and the group level and expansion to new markets.