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Dubai becomes 5th-largest Deutsche Bank shareholder

DUBAI - Dubai said on Wednesday it had bought a 2.2 percent stake in Deutsche Bank AG through the investment arm of its financial centre, becoming the fifth-largest shareholder in Germany’s biggest listed bank.

The stake would be worth around 1.35 billion euros ($1.83 billion) at Tuesday’s closing price, although DIFC Investments declined to say how much it had paid or when it bought the shares.

DIFC Investments is an arm of the Dubai International Financial Centre, which the government set up to build a financial services hub in the Gulf Arab emirate. DIFC bought a stake in European exchange operator Euronext last year.

“This is another strategic investment for DIFC and comes as a further step in the enhancement of our portfolio,” DIFC Governor Omar Bin Sulaiman said.

“We believe Deutsche Bank has a very solid, sustainable global growth strategy and the right management team to deliver on that strategy,” he said.

Deutsche Bank reported a record profit in the first three months of 2007 on the back of bumper trading revenue.

Deutsche Bank had 525.77 million shares outstanding at Jan. 23, according to Reuters data.

The DIFC, a dollar-based investment zone with its own laws and courts, said in March it would spend more than $2 billion on acquisitions this year, including a stake in a Western European financial services company.

In April last year it bought a stake in Euronext and raised that to 3.48 percent in May.

Dubai, commercial hub of the world’s top oil exporting region, aims to build two of the world’s 10 largest financial institutions by 2015, Sulaiman said in March.

This is third time in the past seven months investors linked to the Dubai government have bought into a large Western European bank.

On May 1 state-owned Dubai International Capital said it had bought a stake in HSBC Holdings Plc for a fund it manages, becoming one of the largest shareholders in Europe’s biggest bank. It did not give the size of the purchase.

In October, government-owned Istithmar bought 2.7 percent of London-based Standard Chartered Plc.