DBS, which is majority-owned by agricultural cooperatives, owns 75.27% of Semenarna stock, according to the Corruption Prevention Commission's Supervizor web application.

It became the seed producer's largest shareholder with 47.55% of the shares in 2013 after a debt-to-equity conversion, with the latest figures suggesting it bought the 25% of Semenarna shares recently put on sale by Abanka bank.

Semenarna Ljubljana posted a net loss of EUR 13.8m for 2012 on sales of EUR 36m.

In the third quarter of 2013, the latest reporting period for which data are available, it recorded revenue of EUR 3.47m, which is as much as 25% below plans.

However, Semenarna's retail branch Kalia, the branch that keeps the seed producer afloat, still recorded a much lower shortfall than planned.