Multiple German news outlets are reporting that yet another big name in German ship finance is being readied to be sold off.
Hanover’s Nord/LB, one of the largest commercial banks in Germany, owned by the federal states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, could follow HSH Nordbank in being sold off. The bank’s state owners are currently exploring a possible privatisation of the bank.
Previous efforts to sell off some of its shipping portfolio to private equity giant KKR fell through in the past 18 months. The bank is weighed down by billions of euros of non-performing shipping loans.
A raft of interested buyers from Europe, the US and China are likely to follow developments at Nord/LB very closely in the coming months.
