HSBC to Take Full Control of German Business With LBBW Deal

HSBC Holdings Plc is taking full control of its German business by buying out the minority owner.

The British lender will acquire an 18.66% stake in HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt AG from Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, a regional lender in the south of Germany, according to statements by the banks that didn’t give a price. HSBC will hold 99.33% of the registered share capital after the deal closes and plans to squeeze out remaining investors.

HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt had total assets of 26.6 billion euros ($29 billion) and employed more than 3,000 people at the end of last year. LBBW said the stake was “a purely financial investment.”

HSBC in February announced plans to cut 35,000 jobs, $4.5 billion in costs and $100 billion of risk-weighted assets by reducing its U.S. and European businesses and investment bank, though the pandemic has since prompted management to pause layoffs.