Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank
Major investor sells blocks of shares from German banks
4/11/2022, 9:39 p.m
A major investor is offering five percent of the shares in each of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank for sale. The proceeds are said to be around 1.75 billion euros. Meanwhile, there is speculation about the seller. Actually, however, only two asset managers come into question.
Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank are losing another major investor after US hedge fund Cerberus. On Monday evening, the investment bank Morgan Stanley offered two blocks of shares in the two major German banks, each of more than five percent, from the same investor. They should bring him a total of 1.75 billion euros. The bank did not name the seller.
However, only the US asset managers Blackrock and Capital Group have reported stakes in Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank of this magnitude. A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles-based Capital Group, which is behind the $165 billion EuroPacific Growth Fund, among other things, declined to comment. According to Refinitiv data, it recently held 5.8 percent in Deutsche Bank and 5.3 percent in Commerzbank. The two institutes also did not want to comment on the placement.
Blackrock’s holdings in German companies are mostly in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which track one of the major stock indices. According to the commissioned bank, 116 million Deutsche Bank shares are to be sold at a price of at least EUR 10.98, which is almost eight percent less than the Xetra closing price on Monday. 72.5 million Commerzbank papers are to be placed for EUR 6.55 each, a good six percent below the closing price. Both stocks came under pressure in late Frankfurt trading. Deutsche Bank lost 5.6 percent, Commerzbank 3.9 percent.
Cerberus: Hopes for a bank merger fizzled out
Capital Group is one of the world’s largest investors with nearly $2 trillion in assets under management. She had only increased her stake in Deutsche Bank to more than five percent in November. She has held a similarly large stake in Commerzbank since October 2020.
At the beginning of the year, the Cerberus hedge fund made large parts of its Deutsche and Commerzbank shares and now holds less than three percent of both banks. According to insiders, Cerberus had bet on a bank merger – a bet that didn’t work out. The big merger between the two houses, which was talked about at times, did not materialize, nor was there a merger with a foreign bank.