: Capital Group looks to have sold stakes in Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank

This post was originally published on this site

It appears that Los Angeles-based Capital Group has thrown in the towel on its investment in Deutsche Bank, as well as rival Commerzbank.

Bloomberg News reported that an offering of 116 million shares in Deutsche Bank
DBK,
-8.97%

and 72.5 million shares in Commerzbank
CBK,
-7.90%

was priced.

While it’s not clear who made that sale, Capital Group is the only actively managed institutional shareholder, according to FactSet data, that had enough stock in both to make such a sale.

A Capital Group spokeswoman said company policy is not to comment on holdings.

Both stocks were hammered in early trade, with Deutsche Bank down 10% and Commerzbank down 9%.

Capital Group in 2020 had increased its stake in Deutsche Bank.

Sentiment in the German economy has soured as the country deals with an inflation crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That conflict is particularly an issue for the German economy due to its reliance on Russian natural gas.

The Ifo business climate index for Germany suffered a record collapse in March, mostly due to deteriorating expectations.