Deutsche Brse A.G. has announced* that it will make a bid for the Cedel International S.A. shares, aiming to acquire 100% of the shares in Clearstream International S.A. Both organisations presently have a 50% shareholding in the joint venture Clearstream. The bid is made in cash and values the shareholding of Cedel International in Clearstream at EUR 1.6 billion. The bid by Deutsche Brse is still to be accepted by a twothirds majority of the shareholders of Cedel International and is also subject to some other conditions. KAS BANK will accept the bid.
In reply to these developments the chairman of the Managing Board of KAS BANK, Mr. F.S. von Balluseck states the following: ‘The offer made is attractive for several reasons. The management of both Cedel and Clearstream support the bid. The price/earnings ratio of the bid amounts to approximately 20 times Clearstream’s expected profit for 2002. Clearstream is an important partner, client and service provider to KAS BANK. We expect that this will remain unchanged in the future.”