German retail lender Degussa Bank has been put up for sale as its owners grapple with heavy payments, Reuters reported.
The bank is majority-owned by Christian Olearius and Max Warburg. They also own another German bank named MM Warburg.
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MM Warburg was ordered by German judges to pay €176m as fine for its involvement in a scam involving multi-billion-euro trades to receive bogus tax reclaims, the report added.
The UK-based sell-side advisor PwC is currently planning to send out information packages on Degussa Bank to potential buyers.
Reuters reported that these potential buyers could be private equity firms, banks, asset managers and insurance brokers.
The retail bank is valued about €400m ($464m), of which its core banking activities could be valued at around €200m.
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By GlobalDataOne of the sources was quoted by the news agency as saying that the bank’s real estate and insurance businesses are worth a total of approximately the same amount.
Some of the buyers showing interest in the bank expect a total valuation of nearly €200m.
In 2006, Olearius and Warburg bought Degussa Bank from Dutch lender ING.
The bank’s assets include a residential property unit, Industria Wohnen and insurance brokerage unit Prinas Montan.
The lender also operates as a worksite bank on properties of many German companies.
PwC reportedly intends to close the sale of Degussa Bank before the end of this year.
