Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, the property lender bailed out by the government, dropped in Frankfurt trading following reports that Germany is preparing to take over the company. Hypo Real Estate declined as much as 10 percent and fell 7 cents to 1.25 euros at 9:30 a.m. local time. The shares lost 94 percent over the last 12 months, giving the company a market value of 262 million euros ($334 million). The Munich-based lender needed a series of bailouts totaling 92 billion euros in debt guarantees and liquidity lines after its Dublin-based Depfa Bank Plc unit failed to get short- term funding in September when credit markets seized up. Hypo Real Estate agreed in July 2007 to pay about 5.3 billion euros for Depfa, which at that time was Europeâs second-biggest provider of financing to governments. The government is considering taking a stake of between 90 percent and 95 percent in Hypo Real Estate, Handelsblatt reported today, citing unnamed government officials. A bill being drafted by Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck would allow the government to take over banks if required for the stability of financial markets, the newspaper said. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2WKYQhIOfrc&refer=home What are the Germans "sinking about" ? <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yR0lWICH3rY&hl=de&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yR0lWICH3rY&hl=de&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>