[04/22] EU okays Deutsche purchase of Bankers Trust BRUSSELS, (Reuters) - The European Commission has given its unconditional blessing to Deutsche Bank AG's proposed acquisition of U.S. investment bank Bankers Trust Corp. , European Union competition chief Karel Van Miert said Thursday. Van Miert made his comment to reporters as he arrived for a European Parliament hearing. He provided no details. An official statement was delayed until Friday. The EU regulatory clearance marks one of the last steps before completion of the deal, which faced its biggest challenge in the United States, where Holocaust victims claimed compensation from German companies alleged to have profited from Nazi crimes. Deutsche Bank announced at the end of last year that it was paying 17 billion marks ($9.22 billion) for the eighth-biggest U.S. bank. But Deutsche's Chief Executive Rolf Breur said recently the acquisition could cost $1.5 to $2.0 billion less than first expected due to the planned sale of Bankers Trust Australia. The U.S. deal catapults Deutsche Bank to the first place in the European banking landscape, ahead of UBS of Switzerland, with total assets in 1998 of $666 billion. But it will not hold the rank for long if France's Banque Nationale de Paris wins a hostile bid for domestic rivals Societe Generale and Paribas . The Bankers Trust acquisition is also awaiting approval from the U.S. Justice Department. A Commission spokesman said earlier Thursday that a statement would be issued on the decision as soon as the companies had been notified. Last Updated: 04/22/99 15:04 EDT Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication and redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. http://legalnews.findlaw.com/news/19990422/bcbankingbankerstrust.html View without frames ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Copyright © 1994-1999 FindLaw Inc.
