Deals
Germany’s Sleepy Savings Banks Play Wall Street With LBO Bets
- Local lenders have stepped in to finance private equity deals
- Critics say moves go beyond mandate to keep business local
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Move over, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Germany’s savings banks are emulating the titans of Wall Street to become an unconventional source of funding for private equity deals.
Lenders ranging from Kreissparkasse Biberach near Lake Constance to Sparkasse KölnBonn in the Rhineland are upping their bets on small and medium-sized leveraged buyouts, helping plug a financing gap left by the retreat of larger international peers.