Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s biggest lender, agreed to buy some ABN Amro Holding NV assets that the Netherlands must sell to satisfy European Union regulators.

The assets are the same as those it agreed to buy from Fortis in July 2008, Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank said in a statement on its Web site today. Negotiations on final terms and conditions continue, the lender said.

Deutsch Bank agreed in 2008 to purchase ABN Amro’s commercial-banking operations from Fortis, the insurer that sold its banking divisions later that year to avert a collapse. The 709 million-euro ($1.06 billion) deal was scrapped after the Dutch government bailed out part of Fortis, including the stake in ABN Amro it bought in 2007.

“The ABN units complement Deutsche Bank’s stable businesses and therefore fit the company’s strategy,” said Guido Hoymann, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Bankhaus Metzler, who has a “sell” rating on the stock. “The sale will probably pave the way for the Netherlands to merge their two banks by fulfilling EU conditions.”

The acquisition may boost Deutsche Bank earnings by 2 percent per year, according to Hoymann’s preliminary estimates.

The Netherlands was required by the EU to sell some ABN Amro assets, including Hollandsche Bank Unie NV, as it merges the lender’s Dutch unit and Fortis Bank Nederland NV. The agreement with Deutsche Bank needs to be approved by the European Commission, the EU’s antitrust regulator, parliament and ABN Amro NV’s supervisory and management boards, the Dutch Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Deutsche Bank doesn’t intend to raise capital for the ABN Amro purchase, spokesman Christian Streckert said today. Chief Financial Officer Stefan Krause said on Oct. 1 that the company sees no need for “substantial recapitalization” because the lender’s reserves are sufficient even if regulators increase requirements.

To contact the reporter on this story: Martijn van der Starre in Amsterdam at vanderstarre@bloomberg.net; Aaron Kirchfeld in Frankfurt at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 20, 2009 08:49 EDT