Germany’s BayernLB reports $3.5 billion loss for 2009, weighed down by former Austrian unit
By APWednesday, March 31, 2010
Germany’s BayernLB loses $3.5 billion in 2009
BERLIN — German public-sector bank BayernLB says it lost nearly €2.62 billion ($3.5 billion) last year — a performance blamed largely on losses and expenses related to former Austrian unit Hypo Group Alpe Adria.
The 2009 performance was still an improvement on its huge loss of €5.08 billion the previous year at the height of the financial crisis. BayernLB said Wednesday that it aims for a “positive result” in 2010.
The bank said losses, writedowns and other expenses related to HGAA weighed down its results by a total €3.3 billion last year.
Austria nationalized HGAA in December to prevent it from sliding into a bankruptcy fueled in part by bad loans, much of them in Eastern Europe. It bought BayernLB’s majority stake in the lender for a symbolic €1.
