Hypo Group Starts Selling Balkan Businesses

Hypo Group on Tuesday launched the sale of the group's units in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro. Offers have to be submitted by 7 December.

The business units are held by the Austrian-based SEE Holding. Hypo Group's subsidiaries consist of banking and leasing units.

SEE Holding has total assets of €11.0 billion. The six subsidiaries serve 1.1 million customers and operate 250 branches.

In the first six months, the six subsidiaries recorded a net income of €26 million. The subsidiaries in Slovenia and Montenegro are loss-makers, while the Serbian and the Croatian subsidiaries are profitable. The biggest unit is the Croatian subsidiary, followed by the Slovenian subsidiary.

In total, the Austrian bank has a capital shortfall of €2.2 billion.