Deutsche Bank Achieves ‘Notable Milestones’ on IPO of Asset Management Unit

A report in Reuters today revealed that Deutsche Bank is making progress in its planned partial initial public offering (IPO) of its asset management unit, believed to be taking place at some point over the next two years, according to a recent memo to staff.

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Nicolas Moreau, a board member who oversees Deutsche Asset Management, said in a recent memo to staff that the bank secured Swiss regulator FINMA’s approval to establish Deutsche Asset Management (Schweiz) AG.

"We continue to make excellent progress with our IPO preparations and achieve notable milestones in our preparations," he added.

The German lender has yet to make final decision about the potential float of a minority stake in its asset management unit but its CEO John Cryan said that the bank would maintain a "controlling and super-majority stake" in the business.

Cryan has urged employees to ignore rumours of disposals and commented: “There is one rumour in particular that I would like to dispel by making it unambiguously clear that Deutsche Asset Management is and will remain an essential part of our business model.”

Although discussions are said to be still at an early stage, the move is aimed at freeing up capital, following a record payout for its part in the mis-selling of mortgage-backed securities.

Deutsche is said to have €700 billion of assets under management which is estimated by analysts to be worth around €8 billion. It expects to raise 25 percent of this figure through the unit IPO.