Cerberus- and JC Flowers-led consortium acquires HSH Nordbank

The agreement was signed on Wednesday morning and announced by the head of Schleswig-Holstein's regional government, Daniel Günther. It is expected to close before the end of 2018.

Günther confirmed the purchase price, identity of the lead acquirers and praised the work of HSH Nordbank employees and advisers on realising this transaction. He added that although it is not a condition of the agreement, he expects the acquirers to protect the jobs of the bank's employees in Kiel.

Cerberus has taken a 40.33% stake in the company and JC Flowers bought an additional 33.21% to add to its existing 5.1%, according to German regional paper Hamburger Abendblatt. US-based asset manager Goldentree is also in the deal (11.86%) alongside Centaurus Capital (7.12%) and Austrian PE firm Bawag (2.37%), according to the report.

The non-performing loans valued at approximately €7bn will be acquired by the consortium separately from the main bank.

Following a €3bn capital injection by the federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein in 2016, the European Commission ruled that the bank had to be reprivatised without further state aid by the end of February 2018.

Previous funding
JC Flowers led a consortium to acquire a 24.1% stake in HSH Nordbank from WestLB in 2006. The private equity firm took part in another capital increase of approximately €300m in 2008. Prior to the current transaction, it held a 5.1% stake in the bank.

Company
HSH Nordbank was established in 2003 as the result of the merger of Hamburgische Landesbank and Landesbank Schleswig-Holstein. The bank has total assets of €76.5bn and generated net income of €201m before tax for the financial year ending in September 2017. It employs 1,964 people.

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• DACH
• Financials
• Germany
• HSH Nordbank
• Cerberus Capital Management
• JC Flowers