FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank said on Thursday it had reached a settlement with about 60 percent of former Postbank shareholders who said they were wronged by the German banking giant when it bought the retail bank in 2010.
While this agreement allows Deutsche Bank to turn the page, a number of cases remain pending while former Postbank shareholders have still not won their case.
Jan Bayer, a lawyer for some of the plaintiffs who rejected a settlement offer last week, said the announcement had little impact on his clients.
“Whatever agreement is reached has no effect on the decision of any other complainant and is therefore irrelevant going forward,” he said.
Deutsche Bank also said it would cut its litigation settlement provisions by €430 million, which will have a positive impact on its third-quarter profit.
The bank said it was satisfied with the settlements and suggested that a share buyback, which had been suspended, could eventually be put back on the agenda.
“In the context of this improvement in our capital plan, we will review our distribution plans and discuss them with our regulators as part of our ongoing dialogue,” Deutsche Bank said on Wednesday.
Under the terms of the agreement, Deutsche Bank will pay 31 euros per share to former Postbank shareholders, in addition to the 25 euros paid in 2010 at the time of the takeover.
(Reporting by Tom Sims and Alexander Hûbner; editing by Kate Entringer; by Elena Smirnova)
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