Deutsche Bank starts asset manager sale: sources

The headquarters of Deutsche Bank is pictured in Frankfurt December 8, 2011.

FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank AG has launched the sale of a large chunk of its global asset management business, with a price tag seen between 2 billion euros ($2.6 billion) and 3 billion, two financial sources familiar with the sale process said on Friday.

Germany's biggest lender sent information on the assets up for sale to dozens of potential buyers that have signaled interest, including banks and asset managers, the sources said, adding that non-binding offers were expected in January or February.

Deutsche Bank would prefer to sell all of the assets to a single buyer but is ready to consider divestments to separate buyers if that would fetch a higher price, the sources added.

Deutsche Bank, whose shares were down 0.2 percent by 0816 GMT, declined to comment.

The targeted price tag for the operations is toward the lower end of a 2 billion euros to 4 billion range that analysts had calculated when Deutsche announced in November it was considering a sale.

The decision to sell followed a strategic review of the business prompted by changing conditions in the industry, including regulatory reforms.

Separately, the Financial Times on Friday cited people familiar with the matter as saying as many as 50 parties have registered an interest, including U.S. bank Wells Fargo, Royal Bank of Canada and Ameriprise Financial.

($1 = 0.7694 euros)

(Additional reporting by Stephen Mangan; Writing by Jonathan Gould; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and David Holmes)