Deutsche Post sells Postbank stake

FRANKFURT — Deutsche Bank AG agreed to buy a 29.75 percent stake in German retail bank Postbank from Deutsche Post AG for almost $3.9 billion, the second major consolidation in the nation's banking sector since August.

Deutsche Bank, which is Germany's biggest bank as measured by assets, said it expects to close the deal in the first quarter of 2009. The transaction is subject to regulatory and government approvals.

Deutsche Post is Germany's largest mail and logistics company and owns the DHL courier business. It currently owns a stake of 50 percent plus one share in PostBank.

Friday's deal would make Deutsche Bank Postbank's biggest shareholder.

"Deutsche Bank has acquired a substantial shareholding in a leading retail bank in Germany on attractive terms," Deutsche Bank's Chief Executive Josef Ackermann said in a statement. "This is a sound financial investment, which strengthens our private and business clients activities and creates value for our shareholders."

Investors were not swayed, sending Deutsche Bank showers lower by nearly 2 percent to 58.34 euros ($81.68) and shares of Postbank down 5.44 percent at 43.30 euros ($60.62).

Shares of Deutsche Post were up 2.2 percent at 16.50 euros ($23.10).

Last month, insurer Allianz SE agreed to sell Dresdner Bank AG to Commerzbank AG in a deal worth 9.8 billion euro ($13.7 billion).

Frank Appel, Deutsche Post's CEO, had been shopping Postbank around and said the deal gave Postbank a reliable partner and keep its emphasis on logistics.

"This will allow us to focus on our core logistics businesses worldwide," he said.

Deutsche Bank also said Deutsche Post had also given it an option to acquire another 18 percent of Postbank at a price of 55 euro ($76.63) a share. That option could be exercised from a year to three years after the acquisition of the initial stake closes.

Furthermore, Deutsche Post has granted Deutsche Bank a right of first refusal for the remaining Postbank shares, a move that guarantees Deutsche Bank has the first shot at becoming the bank's majority stakeholder.

That is likely to stem any offers from rival banks, including Spain's Banco Santander, the euro zone's biggest bank by market capitalization, which said Thursday it would be interested in eventually acquiring 100 percent of Postbank's share capital.

"Moreover, the option to increase our shareholding in Postbank in the future opens up additional long term growth opportunities," Ackermann said.

Deutsche Bank said in a statement that it intends to raise 2 billion euros ($2.8 billion) through a capital increase to fund the purchase.

According to the Deutsche Bank statement, the two banks also agreed to cooperate in several areas, including the distribution of home finance and investment products.

Deutsche Bank has 14 million clients in private and business banking, of which nearly 10 million are in Germany, while Postbank has 14.5 million clients in Germany.

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