12.3.3.2 Divestments that are not accepted as an own contribution measure

There are some cases in which the divestments were not accepted as an own contribution.1 One of these cases is the case of Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB). In the Opening Decision in the case of NLB, the Commission expressed its doubts as to the own contribution by NLB. NLB planned to divest several subsidiaries. However, most of these subsidiaries were not profitable. The Commission considered that the divestment of non-profitable activities did not qualify as own contribution. According to the Commission, the divestment of these subsidiaries was rather a step necessary to ensure the return to viability.2

Thus, divestments can only be considered as an own contribution when they generate proceeds. This was not the case with the impaired assets that Hypo Real Estate (HRE) had transferred to FMS-WertManagement. The Commission noted that the transfer effectively cut the balance sheet of HRE in half. Nevertheless, the Commission concluded that the transfer could not be considered as an own contribution, since the price that HRE received, exceeded the real economic value (REV) of the assets. The Commission explicitly held that the transfer had not created “any accounting surplus that could have contributed to the financing of the restructuring costs”.3