FRANKFURT (Reuters) – U.S. financial investor Cerberus [CBS.UL] is selling a substantial part of its holdings in both Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, according to the bank running the sale.
Cerberus, which holds around 3% of Deutsche Bank and 5% of Commerzbank, is selling 21 million Deutsche Bank shares and 25.3 million Commerzbank shares, Morgan Stanley said in a statement.
The sale, which would fetch around 455 million euros ($516 million) based on Monday’s closing prices, would 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 2.3% and 4.6% respectively in after-hours German trading after the news.
Cerberus, which took stakes in the two banks in 2017 and has in the past favoured a merger between them, demanded changes at Commerzbank in 2020, prompting a management reshuffle and job cuts.
The investor was not immediately available for comment, and Deutsche and Commerzbank declined to comment.
($1 = 0.8825 euros)
(Reporting by Alexander Huebner, Christoph Steitz, Frank Siebelt and Tom Sims; editing by Susan Fenton and Kevin Liffey)
