Private equity firm Lone Star has agreed to pay a 'low three-figure sum' for German lender IKB, the first high-profile causality in Europe of the subprime mortgage crisis.
Private equity firm Lone Star has agreed to pay a 'low three-figure sum' for German lender IKB, the first high-profile causality in Europe of the subprime mortgage crisis.
Lone Star founder John Grayken is on record as saying the company is in a race to profit from the credit crisis, the biggest financial collapse since the 1930s. Lone Star, which acquired a €1 bn property portfolio from Deutsche Post World Net, has $3 bn allocated to buying real estate and $7 bn for debt. Lone Star already owns German bank Corealcredit.
The company is acquiring just over 90% of IKB from German state-owned development bank KfW Group, which had to arrange a EUR 10 bn bail-out for IKB.
