Lone Star Funds, the Dallas-based private equity firm, agreed to buy IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG after the German bank collapsed, becoming the country's first casualty of the subprime mortgage crisis. The U.S. firm will acquire 90.8 percent of IKB from KfW Group, Germany's state-owned development bank, for an undisclosed price, KfW said today. Lone Star, which also owns German lender Corealcredit Bank AG, beat a competing offer from RHJ International SA, the investment firm run by Timothy Collins. The agreement ends an 11-month search for a buyer after KfW led a 10 billion-euro ($14.8 billion) bailout. Dusseldorf-based IKB collapsed after a unit that bought subprime mortgages ran out of funding in July 2007 as the credit crunch began. KfW has since ousted four IKB management board members, including Chief Executive Officer Stefan Ortseifen after an audit blamed ``flawed'' risk management for the bank's demise. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a3TgHljSM3RI&refer=home There seems to be some "value" in German banks....
1) When foreign private equity funds buy foreign distressed assets, it's "bearish". 2) Paying a discounted price for something that is worthless is never a good deal. 3) Suss, it's about time you returned from vacation!