Dubai group takes a stake in Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank has become the latest western financial institution to attract interest from a Middle Eastern investor after Dubai's International Financial Centre built a significant stake in the German bank.
In a statement on Wednesday, DIFC Investments, the centre's investment arm, said it had acquired a 2.2 per cent stake in Deutsche Bank, becoming one of the bank's largest shareholders.
Omar Bin Sulaiman, governor of the DIFC and chairman of DIFC Investments, said in a statement: "This is another strategic investment for DIFC and comes as a further step in the enhancement of our portfolio. We believe Deutsche Bank has a very solid, sustainable global growth strategy and the right management team to deliver on that strategy."
Earlier this month a fund managed by Dubai International Capital announced it had made a "substantial" investment in HSBC. This followed the news that Maan Abdul Wahed al-Sanea, a Saudi tycoon, had built a 3 per cent shareholding in the world's fourth-largest bank.
Meanwhile Istithmar, part of the Dubai government's investment arm, has built a 2.7 per cent shareholding in Standard Chartered, the UK-based emerging markets bank.
Deutsche Bank does not have any strategic investors with significant shareholdings. Its biggest investors are UBS, the Swiss investment bank, and Barclays Global Investors, the asset management arm of the UK bank. Both hold 3.1 per cent stakes, according to Deutsche Bank. Foreign investors hold 46 per cent of the bank's shares.
DIFC Investments was created last year to carry out all "non-public administration activities" previously the responsibility of the DIFC Authority. Shortly afterwards, it took a stake of more than 1 per cent in Euronext, the stock exchange that was subsequently bought by the New York Stock Exchange.
The stake-building in Germany's biggest bank follows a series of investments by Gulf investors in German blue chip companies. DIC paid $1bn for a 2 per cent stake in DaimlerChrysler, the German carmaker, in January 2005.
The Emirate of Kuwait is another Gulf-based investor that has made significant inroads into corporate Germany. Its investment vehicle is the biggest shareholder in DaimlerChrysler, where it holds a 7.2 per cent stake. In 2004, Mubadala Development, the state-owned Abu Dhabi investment company, ended talks about buying a 10 per cent stake in Volkswagen owing to a disagreement on price.
Source: The Financial Times
Date: 21.05.2007 [ID: 30]