By Eyk Henning
FRANKFURT--Germany's Deutsche Bank AG (DB) has decided not to
take a stake in German soccer club Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co.
(BVB.XE), after the lender was approached by the country's only
listed club this year for an alliance.
"The management board of Deutsche Bank today decided unanimously
after a long review process, that it won't take any stake in the
club," a spokesman for the bank said Friday.
German newspaper Die Welt had previously reported that the bank
could take a stake of up to 10% in Borussia Dortmund. The report
said Deutsche Bank's supervisory board member Paul Achleitner
brought up the idea from his former employer Allianz, which is a
shareholder in FC Bayern Munich together with Adidas and Audi.
Analysts say Deutsche Bank could have profited from the
investment because the club's shares have significant upside
potential and because of the team's international appeal. Borussia
Dortmund seeks to make its shares more attractive by gaining
well-known anchor investors and hopes to win a financially strong
partner that could help close the financial gap to its biggest
domestic rival, Bayern Munich, a person familiar with the matter
said.
Shares in the club gained about 20% in the past two days after
having recently moved to the SDAX index. BVB closed Friday in Xetra
trading at EUR4.67, giving the club a market value of about 268
million euros ($365.8 million).
--Neetha Mahadevan and Stefani Haxel contributed to this
article.
Write to Eyk Henning at eyk.henning@wsj.com
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