HSH Beteiligungs Management has launched the sale process for HSH Nordbank, inviting bidders for the German bank.
HSH Beteiligungs Management, which is owned by the Federal States of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, has to privatise the bank by the end of February 2018 in accordance with a European Commission decision in May 2016.
In a statement issued by Citibank, who have been mandated by HSH to organise the sale, the bank said it has been significantly de-risked and restructured over the last few years which has seen profitability continuously improved.
In July 2016, the bank transferred a portfolio of non-performing loans from its ship finance portfolio totalling EUR5bn ($5.37bn) to its owners. It later posted a pre-tax profit of EUR183m for the first nine months of 2016.
The Citbank statement says the intention and clear preference of the seller is to sell all of its shares in HSH Nordbank including all of its assets and liabilities.
Expressions of interest required by the end of February, with indicative bids planned for the end of March.
