Poker around NordLB: Coba and Helaba make no offer

economy

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

The offer period for NordLB ends. According to inside information, Commerzbank and Helaba will stick to note. This could be American financial investors on the train.

Commerzbank and Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen do not seem to want to resort to NordLB. Thus, only US private financial investors will likely be vying for the institute. Commerzbank does not want to make a firm offer for the Landesbank Hannover, said a person familiar with the case. Several parts of NordLB are not attractive. According to Martin Zielke, CEO of Commerzbank, these effects would be superimposed on the growth and synergy effects that the institute could achieve by acquiring a private company and a company. A little earlier, the "Handelsblatt" talked about it.

According to insiders, Helaba does not bid for NordLB at the moment, but remains willing to talk. "Under the current conditions, Helaba does not offer any offer," said one insider. You must never say. Another insider pointed out that Helaba's general meeting and Helaba's board of directors had not decided Monday night for or against a specific offer. Submit the deadline Wednesday but you will report that you are ready to speak. "The game continues". NordLB's public law solution with Helaba is still open. Elsewhere, he stated that both parties were still interested in it.

Is this an extension?

Bidders must submit a firm offer to participate in NordLB by Wednesday. Initially, no comments were received from the companies and stakeholders involved. Even private US financial investors such as Cerberus and Apollo are considered interested. In the current bidding process, they are currently reviewing NordLB's books looking for capital. Initially, it was unclear whether Helaba could agree with the Hanoverians outside the bidding process.

One participant stated that the process could possibly be extended and that Helaba would submit an offer at a later date. Unlike HSH Nordbank, NordLB does not exert any temporal pressure on the European Commission. The majority shareholder in Lower Saxony said: "We remain optimistic that NordLB and its carriers will be able to enter with the bidders in a final phase of the bidding process."

An entry of Helaba into NordLB as part of a merger could pave the way for the merger of several public sector banks to form a "super-bank landaise" in the medium term. Prerequisite: Helaba should first accept the NordLB offer and prevail on private investors.

However, the Helaba had recently played poker and insiders, according to a letter stating what conditions they would lay down during a boarding. As a result, the savings banks of Lower Saxony, as co-owners of NordLB, are expected to participate in the capital increase expected for NordLB. On the other hand, they should join a network concept that already closely links Helaba and 49 Sparkbaden from Hesse and Thuringia. This includes a joint liability fund in which Lower Saxony should pay. According to one insider, the savings banks of Lower Saxony should have raised a total amount in the order of three million dollars. However, according to the financial community, the northern savings banks have little interest in taking so much money into their own hands.

Lower Saxony holds about 60% of NordLB, Lower Saxony Savings Banks Association about 26% and Saxony-Anhalt just under 6%.

Source: n-tv.de