Deutsche Bank has completed the disposal of close to US$1 billion ($1.34 billion) in loans linked to US commercial real estate, reducing its exposure to an asset class that had weighed on the business.
A spokesman for Deutsche Bank confirmed that sale had taken place, without giving details. Bloomberg reported in August that the lender was trying to divest the portfolio.
Deutsche Bank is a big lender to developers of US commercial real estate and especially offices, a market that has been hard hit by higher borrowing costs and a trend toward remote working.
CFO James von Moltke said last month that the lender had made a provision of EUR23 million ($32.57 million) in anticipation of the portfolio sale.
The transaction, which hadn’t concluded at the time, provides “further evidence of our view that commercial real estate has at least found a floor and is stabilising”, von Moltke said at the time.
