Commerzbank Sells Korea Exchange Stake

Commerzbank, the fourth-biggest bank in Germany, has sold a 16.8 per cent stake in the South Korean bank Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), the country’s sixth-biggest, to the U.S. investment fund Lone Star for €120 million ($130 million), according to a statement released by Commerzbank on Wednesday. The statement said that the price of the sale was the book value of the stake, so "no gain or loss will be booked.” It continued: “This deal will have neither a negative nor a positive effect on Commerzbank." The German bank has now sold all of its preference shares in KEB, but it is holding on for the time being to its ordinary shares equivalent to a stake of 15.75 percent. No negotiations had taken place with Lone Star regarding the sale of this stake, the statement said.