Deutsche Bank In Exclusive Talks To Sell Asset Management To Guggenheim

Deutsche Bank AG (DB, DBK.XE) said Tuesday it is in exclusive talks to sell most of its asset management business to Guggenheim Partners.

A price wasn't disclosed and a deal may still not happen, said people familiar with the matter. The business up for sale includes roughly $537 billion (EUR400 billion) of assets under management. Deutsche has been shopping it around since November and had whittled the field of buyers down to a handful.

In a statement, the German bank said it is negotiating to sell its mutual fund business in the Americas, its global institutional asset management business, its insurance asset management business, and its global alternatives asset management business. It isn't selling its retail business in Germany, Europe and Asia.

Rumors about Deutsche's plans have swirled for months since it said in November it was undergoing a strategic review of the business. Dow Jones Newswires reported earlier this month that the potential buyers included State Street Corp. (STT), Macquarie Group Ltd. (MQG.AU), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s (JPM) asset management business and Apax Partners. That earlier report said analysts valued the business at $2 billion to $3.3 billion.

Guggenheim is a New York- and Chicago-based investment bank led by Mark Walter as chief executive and Alan Schwartz, a former CEO of Bear Stearns Cos., as executive chairman. It has been expanding recently, starting a proprietary trading business last year.

Last year, it organized its asset management operations into a new unit, Guggenheim Investments, which has $125 billion of assets, including $20 billion of ETFs.

In a statement Tuesday, a Guggenheim spokesman said the firm "regularly evaluates opportunities to strengthen and enhance its business platform and client offering, and has a strong track record in managing clients' assets. We are pleased to enter into exclusive negotiations with Deutsche Bank and believe its asset management businesses represent an attractive opportunity for Guggenheim to leverage our expertise."

-By Liz Moyer, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2512; [e-mail]