The state acquired an additional 22% shareholding in NLB at one euro per share in a deal worth a total of EUR 2.765m. In this way the state further consolidated its ownership of the bank that has been making huge losses due to bad loans in recent years and will need a new recapitalisation this year.

By offloading its stake in NLB, KBC met one of the commitments it made to the European Commission in its restructuring plan as it pledged to divest the non-strategic investment in the Slovenian bank.

The sale resulted in a negative financial effect of EUR 100m, which the Belgian financial group had already factored in in the financial statements for the last quarter of 2012. The impact of the deal on the bank's capital was described as negligible by KBC.

KBC acquired a 34% stake in NLB for EUR 435m in 2002. The relations between the two major owners turned sour in 2006 when the then Janez Janša government did not want to let KBC become a majority owner. Since then the Belgian group declined to play a strategic role in the Slovenian bank.