US banks flag interest in German acquisitions; govt won't interfere - report 26.11.2003 07:27 Headlines
FRANKFURT (AFX) - A number of US banks have in recent weeks flagged their
interest in buying a German rival and been told by the German government it
would not oppose such a move, the Financial Times reported.
Frankfurt bankers said Sandy Weill, Citigroup chairman, had posed the
question in the summer and had not been rebuffed. Other US banks are understood
to have followed suit in recent weeks.
"They were all told the government would keep its hands off - it would not
oppose such a bid," one banker told the newspaper.
Weill is understood to have raised the issue recently in informal
conversations with Josef Ackermann, Deutsche Bank's chief executive, but there
have been no acquisition talks between the two institutions, the FT said.
One senior banking executive said: "There is no question that the only
German bank a Citigroup would be interested in is Deutsche."
Citigroup's approach is thought to have prompted Finance Minister Hans
Eichel last week to make encouraging noises about German banks organising
domestic mergers to see off the threat of a foreign takeover.
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