Deutsche mulls asset management sell off
(24 January 2016 – Germany) Deutsche Bank is considering a partial initial public offering of its asset management unit, reports indicate.
A potential IPO of its asset management arm, which includes the DWS retail asset management brand, would raise around €8 billion (A$11.3 billion).
Sources said that prior to the listing the bank would seek to move its registration to Luxembourg, which provides tax and regulatory benefits. Talks within the bank are on-going with no firm commitment made, while the bank has refused to comment on the rumours.
The bank’s chief executive, John Cryan recently told senior executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos that asset management remained "absolutely core".
"People forget how big it is and it's a very lovely steady stream of predictable profits and revenues for us, so we like it very much, so we’ll keep that," he added.
The unit, which includes Deutsche Bank’s DWS retail asset management brand recorded a 7 percent rise in pretax profit to €549 million in the first nine months of 2016, accounting for almost a third of the group's pretax profit of €1.6 billion.
It had €715 billion in assets under management as of September 2016.
The bank is expected to present a strategy update to investors later this year, after international banking supervisors reach a deal on new bank capital rules.
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