UniCredit’s German unit said it has reached an agreement to sell its majority stake in German online broker DAB Bank to BNP Paribas for €354 million ($474 million). UniCredit Bank said BNP Paribas agreed to pay €4.78 a share for its 81.4% stake in DAB Bank, which would value DAB Bank at €435 million. BNP Paribas said the acquisition, which must be approved by the German bank’s supervisory board and by regulators, will give the French bank a strong boost in the development of its digital banking and brokerage business in Europe. It would enable the French group to nearly double the number of clients in this segment in Germany, to 1.4 million, and reach €58 billion in assets under management. The number of securities transactions for both entities added up to nearly 6 million in the first six months of 2014. BNP unit Cortal Consors is an important player in the German online banking and brokerage services market. BNP Paribas already covers a broad range of client segments from retail to corporate and institutional with 12 business lines and 4,000 employees in Germany. BNP Paribas said it would manage the business from Nuremberg and Munich. The acquisition also provides a foundation for developing the BNP group’s retail business in Austria, it said.
