Freshfields advises Deutsche Post in €2.79bn Postbank share sale

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has bagged the mandate advising Germany's privatised postal service, Deutsche Post, on its €2.79bn first stage disposal of its majority share in Deutsche Postbank to Deutsche Bank.

The instruction is a coup for Freshfields, which is understood not to have acted for Deutsche Post on any major transactions in the past, reported German magazine Juve.

Postbank was advised by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton's Frankfurt office, with corporate partner Thomas Kopp and competition partner Dirk Schroeder leading the team.

Hengeler Mueller advised Deutsche Bank on the acquisition of Deutsche Post's consumer banking subsidiary.

The German Freshfields team consisted of a large number of partners throughout the firm’s offices, led by corporate partner Matthias-Gabriel Kremer in Frankfurt.

Hengeler corporate partners Burkhardt Meister, Michael Baumgartl and Daniela Favoccia in Frankfurt handled the corporate elements of the transaction for Deutsche Bank.

Linklaters corporate heavyweight Ralph Wollburg in Düsseldorf advised Banco Santander, which was a bidder until late in the process.