JC Flowers, Cerberus granted exclusivity in HSH Nordbank auction

JC Flowers already owns a stake in the bank (reportedly 5%) after leading a consortium to jointly acquire WestLB's 24.1% stake in 2006 for a €1.26bn transaction value. The GP subsequently took part in a capital increase in 2008, in which it is thought to have invested €300m.

The bidders have now been given a deadline to negotiate a deal with the federal states of Schleswig Holstein and Hamburg, which collectively own 89% of the bank, according to the reports.

London-based investment firm Socrates Capital and private equity firm Apollo also submitted bids but are thought to now be out of the running.

In May 2016, the European Commission approved the €3bn capital increase granted to HSH Nordbank by the federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein in June 2013 to stabilise the bank.

The decision was based on a commitment to reprivatise without further state aid, and requires the sale agreements to be signed by February 2018.

The bank arranged the refinancing of KKR's €2.95bn acquisition of car park operator Q-Park with a €1.4bn revolving credit facility in November 2017.

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Financials
• DACH
• HSH Nordbank
• Germany