Deutsche may sell tech unit to Tata Consultancy

Bloomberg

Deutsche Bank AG is in advanced talks to sell a technology services unit to Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Asia’s biggest software exporter by market value, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The discussions about Bonn-based Postbank Systems AG are expected to result in a deal with the Indian company by the end of the year, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing the private information.
The pandemic is accelerating moves by global banks and financial services firms to shed their captive technology centres. Tata Consultancy’s potential takeover of Postbank’s 1,400 employees in the South Asian nation will help Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing get closer to his job-cuts target.
Negotiations are ongoing and could still be delayed or fall apart, the people said. A Deutsche Bank spokeswoman declined to comment, while a representative for Tata Consultancy also didn’t comment.
Tata Consultancy, which has more than 450,000 employees across the world, in 2008 paid $505 million to acquire Citigroup Inc’s back-office unit in what was then its biggest acquisition. Financial details of
the proposed transaction with Deutsche Bank aren’t known.
Shares of the unit of Tata Sons Pvt, India’s biggest conglomerate, were 0.7% lower at 2,658.8 rupees in Mumbai. Deutsche Bank, the best performer on the STOXX Europe Banks Index this year, was little changed in Frankfurt trading at 7.96 euros.
Deutsche Bank’s Sewing last year unveiled a restructuring plan centred on cutting 18,000 jobs, with about half of those expected in Germany, Bloomberg News has reported.
However, his efforts have recently hit a roadblock after the coronavirus outbreak led to a short moratorium on dismissals earlier this year and the pandemic made employees less willing to change jobs.