German banks that received state aid as a result of the financial crisis will need to sell 972 billion euros ($1.19 trillion) of assets in the coming years, spurring mergers and acquisitions in Europes financial industry, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said.
The European Commission, the European Unions executive agency, ordered the sale of about 30 billion euros of assets by 2011 alone, PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a statement on the release of a study. That will probably invigorate restrained M&A activity in Europes financial industry, it said.
The assets, which include Dusseldorf-based WestLB AGs Westdeutsche Immobilienbank unit, may be acquired by foreign financial companies as well as financial investors that are already active in the financial-services industry, it said.
M&A deals in Europes financial-services industry reached 7.8 billion euros in the first quarter, compared with more than 30 billion euros a year earlier, PricewaterhouseCoopers said.
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