Deutsche Bank to buy 30% in Postbank for $4b

DEUTSCHE Bank agreed to buy almost 30% of Deutsche Postbank for 2.79 billion ($3.93 billion) in the country’s fourth financial-services acquisition in two months. The bank will pay 57.25 a share in cash for the holding, 25% more than Thursday’s closing price, Deutsche Bank said. Deutsche Bank has an option to buy an additional 18% of Postbank within three years for 55 a share. The purchase will make Deutsche Bank the largest investor in Postbank, the country’s biggest bank by customers, and thwartacompetingbidbyBancoSantander. By buying all of Postbank, CEO Josef Ackermann will more than double his consumer banking customers to about 24 million in Germany and fulfill a promise to cut dependence on investment banking. Deutsche Post CEO Frank Appel, 47, is selling Postbank to focus on mail, express deliveries and logistics. The purchase of the 29.75% stake is also a counterpunch to Commerzbank which agreed to buy Allianz’s Dresdner Bank for
9.8 billion less than two weeks ago to leapfrog Deutsche Bank by clients and branches. Postbank fell 1.77 to 44 by 1:04 pm in Frankfurt trading, valuing the company at 7.2 billion