DGAP-News: Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP / Key word(s): Disposal
2015-05-21 / 18:02

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netbank AG was the first European virtual bank and was founded in 1998 by Sparda banks which business operations focus on its approx. 160,000 private customers (B2C-approach). In 2007, Landesbank Berlin AG (now Berliner Sparkasse) acquired 75% minus one share from several Sparda banks. Augsburger Aktienbank AG has now acquired 100% of the shares of netbank AG after the completion of a competitive auction process. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The transaction is still subject to approval by the BaFin and the ECB as well as the German Federal Cartel Office.

Augsburger Aktienbank AG currently focuses primarily on the B2B business with investment brokers, asset managers and institutional customers. Augsburger Aktienbank AG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of LVM. Lothar Behrens, chairman of the management board of Augsburger Aktienbank AG stated: "Our institutions complement each other perfectly. Upon consummation of the transaction, we will together provide our services to approximately 400,000 customers."

The Willkie team led by Dr. Andreas Hautkappe has already advised the selling Sparda banks and Dr. Heinz Wings, former chairmen of the management board of Sparda Bank Hamburg eG as well as co-founder and chairmen of the supervisory board of netbank AG on Landesbank Berlin Holding AG's acquisition of its shareholdings in netbank AG. Willkie was now awarded with the legal engagement for the sales process on behalf of all shareholders. This transaction is believed to be the first sale of a German bank upon assumption of banking supervision responsibilities by the ECB.
The team was led by Dr. Andreas Hautkappe (Corporate/M&A) and included the partner Dr. Christian Rolf (Employment) as well as the lead associate Dr. Stephanie Schmidt-Ehemann (Corporate/M&A) as well as the other associates Jörg Walzer (Tax) and Jochen Riechwald (Employment, all Frankfurt am Main).
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is an international law firm, comprising more than 600 attorneys with offices in New York, Washington, Paris, London, Milan, Rome, Frankfurt am Main and Brussels. The headquarters are in New York, 787 Seventh Avenue.

Frankfurt am Main, May 21, 2015



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2015-05-21 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.
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360825 2015-05-21