Alpina Gains New Owner in Abanka

As the third-largest bank in Slovenia, Abanka has seen great progress in recent years but nothing signifies it quite as much as the recent purchase of the shoe maker Alpina. Turning a debt of €12.5 million into capital, Alpina and its employees welcomed the news that Abanka had become the majority owner of a stake worth just over 13% of the company. Currently, Bank Assets Management Company (BAMC), a state-owned bank, is the other owner.

How did this happen? Despite their rich history in the sports shoe market, Alpina were forced to agree a financial restructuring plan towards the end of December. With the help of Abanka, the company is hoping for faster growth and more investment in their employees, development, and marketing.

In total, the group was thought to owe €17.5 million but this has now been rescheduled in regular payments until 2026. With a new CEO in Bojan Gantar, a carefully-designed financial restructuring, and a new owner, Alpina will be hoping this is a start towards a brighter future.

After the deal had been struck, Gantar noted “A high degree of motivation and good cooperation among all in the company - the employees, management and owner - have facilitated the fast and successful restructuring of the company, which was in trouble due to indebtedness and poor management.”

In addition to the many changes, costs and other processes will continue to be optimized in 2018 in an attempt to run more efficiently; they also want to expand the retail network to include Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Finally, they have plans to garner a 4% increase in sports shoe sales with the help of a brand-new urban-walking and trekking brand as well as a new strategy in Russia.