According to financial circles, the institute has bagged the takeover of Degussa Bank.
(Photo: Oldenburgische Landesbank)
Frankfurt The Oldenburgische Landesbank (OLB) is preparing the next takeover before its planned IPO. The institute signed the contract to purchase Degussa Bank on Tuesday evening, several people familiar with the subject told the Handelsblatt.
The purchase price is a good 200 million euros, said two of the insiders. OLB and Degussa Bank initially declined to comment.
OLB is owned by financial investors Apollo and Grovepoint and US pension fund Teacher Retirement Systems of Texas. After the takeover by the consortium of investors in 2017, the Oldenburg Institute merged with Bremer Kreditbank, which had already been bought by Apollo, and Bankhaus Neelmeyer, and later with Wüstenrot Bank AG Pfandbriefbank.
In June, OLB had already announced that it would buy a loan portfolio worth around EUR 500 million from the Dutch NIBC Bank together with the insurance company ASR. It consists of loans to highly indebted companies, so-called leveraged loans.
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The owners of OLB want to sell the bank, which had total assets of 25 billion euros at the end of last year, in the foreseeable future. According to insiders, they are aiming for a valuation of well over one billion euros – and have already mandated Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and UBS to prepare. However, due to the great uncertainty on the markets and the slowdown in the economy, insiders do not expect an IPO until next year at the earliest.
Degussa Bank is majority owned by Christian Olearius and Max Warburg
Degussa Bank AG employed a good 600 people last year and had total assets of EUR 6.2 billion. The institute is majority owned by Christian Olearius and Max Warburg. Both have come under severe financial pressure due to the involvement of Hamburg’s MM Warburg Bank in the cum-ex scandal. That too is said to have been a motive for the sale of Degussa Bank.
Between 2006 and 2011, Warburg Bank and its fund subsidiary Warburg Invest got involved in the transactions at the expense of the tax fund. The bank shareholders must now be responsible for this. The bank has already paid back most of the taxes to the tax office. Overall, the burden will amount to several hundred million euros.
The Cologne public prosecutor’s office has already brought charges against Olearius for serious tax evasion. It is considered likely that he will have to answer in court. Max Warburg is accused. Both have always maintained their innocence.
More: Stock market aspirant Oldenburgische Landesbank buys