EU's Almunia Says Deal Reached On Restructuring BayernLB

Germany's regionally-owned lender Bayerische Landesbank, or BayernLB, has reached a long-awaited agreement with the European Commission on the bank's restructuring, the European Union's antitrust chief said Monday, Dow Jones reported. A formal decision on BayernLB's fate is due July 25, E.U. Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said following a meeting with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and Horst Seehofer, premier of the state of Bavaria. Almunia added the final deal will reduce the size of the bank, but will give it strength. BayernLB is the last German bank to get Brussels' approval for a restructuring program that became necessary to compensate for having received state aid. The Bavarian government in 2008 injected 10 billion euros ($12.3 billion) into the bank to prevent it from collapsing and thereby took a 94% stake. Read more. (Subscription required.)