By Alexander Hübner and Christoph Steitz
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – U.S. financial investor Cerberus, which has favoured a merger of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank in the past, is disposing of a large chunk of its holdings in the two top German lenders, the bank running the sale said.
The sale marks a significant scaling back by one of the most prominent investors in the financial sector of Europe’s largest economy and comes at a time when large-scale consolidation in the continent’s banking sector is still waiting to happen.
Cerberus, which currently holds around 3% of Deutsche Bank and 5% of Commerzbank and ranks among the top-10 shareholders of both banks, is selling 21 million Deutsche Bank shares and 25.3 million Commerzbank shares, Morgan Stanley <MS.N> said.
Cerberus, which took stakes in both banks in 2017, could fetch 443 million euros ($502 million) according to the latest price guidance, a roughly 3% discount to Monday’s closing price.
The sale will reduce Cerberus’ stake in Deutsche Bank to around 2%, and its stake in Commerzbank to 3%.
Cerberus has committed to a 45-day lock-up period during which it will not sell additional stakes, Morgan Stanley said.
Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank shares were down 1.9% and 4.9% respectively in after-hours German trading following the news.
Cerberus has at times been a vocal investor, demanding changes at Commerzbank in 2020 that prompted a management reshuffle as well as substantial job cuts.
Since Cerberus bought its stakes, shares in both lenders are down more than 20%.
The investor did not respond to requests for comment.
Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank both declined to comment.
($1 = 0.8832 euros)
(Reporting by Alexander Huebner, Christoph Steitz, Frank Siebelt and Tom Sims; editing by Susan Fenton, Kevin Liffey and Richard Chang)
