DZ Bank faces 300 mln euro Natixis writedown-report
FRANKFURT, July 20 (Reuters) - Germany's DZ Bank is facing a writedown of about 300 million euros ($475.4 million) on its stake in French bank Natixis (CNAT.PA), German business daily Handelsblatt reported, citing unidentified financial sources.
DZ Bank is the central bank for Germany's roughly 1,100 cooperative banks and links them to international capital markets. It reported 1.36 billion euros in writedowns on investments in risky debt securities in February.
Handelsblatt, in a preview received on Sunday of an article due for publication in Monday's print edition, linked DZ Bank's allegedly required Natixis-related writedown to the almost 70 percent slide in the French bank's share price since July 2007.
Handelsblatt said DZ Bank had disputed a value adjustment of such magnitude but had declined to give any figures.
The German bank would have to shell out another 68 million euros if it decides to subscribe to its share of Natixis's 3.7 billion euro rights issue announced on July 16, the newspaper said.
The Natixis stake could be a topic at an extraordinary DZ Bank supervisory board meeting on Wednesday, Handelsblatt said. (Reporting by Peter Starck; Editing by Richard Hubbard)
