US financial investor Cerberus has sold another 15 million Deutsche Bank shares to professional investors for EUR 212 million, according to Morgan Stanley, the investment bank entrusted with the transaction. The selling price was EUR 14.15 per share, only slightly below yesterday's closing price of EUR 14.37. Apparently, the demand for Deutsche Bank shares was relatively high. Because there are often higher price discounts when large blocks of shares are placed.
The block of shares now sold by Cerberus corresponds to a 0.73 percent stake in Deutsche Bank's share capital and a good third of Cerberus' last remaining stake. Because in January, the US investor had already parted with a package of Deutsche Bank shares and also with Commerzbank papers, four years after his entry, in which he currently still holds three percent of the shares. Observers see this as a stage in the complete exit from Cerberus at the two German banks. The US investor himself did not comment on the reasons for his step.
Merger plans failed
According to insiders in the financial sector, Cerberus had been relying on a merger between the two major banks since its entry a few years ago at significantly higher share prices at the time. However, despite discussions, this did not happen.
Such a transaction would have had considerable political support. The current Federal Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, then Minister of Finance, and his State Secretary Jörg Kukies, the former German head of the US investment bank Goldman Sachs, were seen as supporters of a merger because they wanted a national "banking champion" who would support domestic companies abroad can.
Bank shares in the focus of investors
Bank shares have been in greater demand among investors for some time and have clearly outperformed the DAX in terms of price development. The markets are thus reacting to the prospect of higher key interest rates in important currency areas and the associated increase in long-term interest rates on the bond markets.
A good example are ten-year federal bonds, which are currently yielding more than 0.2 percent. At the low, the interest rate was less than minus 0.7 percent. Many investors therefore expect that banks will be able to increase their interest margin again, i.e. the difference between debit and credit interest, and thus generate profits again in their traditional business.
It is unclear why Cerberus sells its shares in Deutsche Bank in this phase of rising bank share prices – with significant losses due to the originally higher prices when entering the company.
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