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Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG is seeking to sell its portfolio of non-investment grade energy loans, worth about $3 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The Frankfurt-based lender, which said in May it was closing its Houston office, is planning to sell the loan book as a whole and has marketed it to North American and European peers, said one of the people. The portfolio is expected to sell for par value, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorised to speak publicly.
Deutsche Bank spokeswoman Kerrie McHugh declined to comment. The bank’s energy business is expected to wrap up on June 30, one of the people said. The bank has been an active lender in the energy space in the past year, participating in the financing of companies including Peabody Energy Corp. and Coronado Australian Holdings Pty., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The decision to retreat from energy deals is among the cuts by Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing as he looks to restructure investment banking operations globally. Alasdair Warren, head of corporate finance in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, left this week, as did Scott Sartorius and Christopher Blum, co-heads of US leveraged finance.