Elisa Martinuzzi, Columnist

Can Cerberus Break Out of Germany's Bank Graveyard?

The private equity firm's bet on Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank now depends on a merger of the two.

January 30, 2019 at 6:00 AM UTC

Elisa Martinuzzi is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering finance. She is a former managing editor for European finance at Bloomberg News.

Cross-town rivals.
Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

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Since buying minority stakes in Commerzbank AG and Deutsche Bank AG in 2017, Cerberus Capital Management LP's 1.7 billion-euro ($1.9 billion) investment has lost more a than a third of its value. Simply recouping that money may require more than patience and fine-tuning.

The $35 billion private equity manager’s appetite for lenders in Europe’s largest economy appears to be insatiable. Last year, a Cerberus-led consortium snapped up former state lender, HSH Nordbank. It is also bidding for a minority stake in another regional bank, NordLB, along with another fund.