Two American investors have made a joint bid to take a minority stake in Germany’s NordLB, a big name in ship finance.
Reuters has identified the two US companies as Cerberus and Centerbridge.
The bank, now state-run, declined to identify the companies by name but admitted it had received a joint offer from two unnamed financial investors and would review the bid with its owners.
Cerberus and Centerbridge had previously been in separate negotiations over the acquisition of a stake of up to 49% in NordLB. In the joint offer, the private equity groups are looking to acquire a 24.9% stake eachin NordLB, according to a report carried by the Financial Times over the weekend.
NordLB is 65% owned by the German states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt with regional savings banks holding the rest.
