Deutsche Bank on Friday announced it had narrowed the scope of its exclusive talks with Guggenheim Partners over the sale of Deutsche's money management businesses to the German bank's $63 billion RREEF global alternatives unit.
The announcement, two and a half months after Deutsche Bank said Guggenheim had emerged as the final bidder in talks started last November, effectively marked an abandonment of the German giant's hope of finding a single buyer for the more than $500 billion book of asset management businesses it had put on the block.
While the businesses in play included the bank's institutional asset management business, its insurance asset management business and its Americas retail business, investment bankers said RREEF, which focuses on real estate investments and other alternatives strategies, is the jewel in the crown.
With a leadership change for both Deutsche Bank and its asset management division looming on June 1, the bank on Friday, in a news release, said it “will continue to evaluate these businesses.”
Deutsche spokeswoman Mayura Hooper and Michelle Lee, spokeswoman for Guggenheim, declined to provide further comment.
