Deutsche Bank : sale of Postbank faces delay - WirtschaftsWoche

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank faces delays in its plan to part company with Postbank, with only a portion of the retail banking business likely to be sold in a share flotation this year, a German magazine reported on Tuesday, citing Deutsche Bank supervisory board and management sources.

WirtschaftsWoche said Deutsche Bank's management have given up hope of being able to deconsolidate Postbank this year, which would require selling at least 50 percent of its stake in the lender.

Deutsche Bank announced in April last year it planned to deconsolidate Postbank by the end of 2016 as part of a strategic revamp that would also bolster its capital position in the face of ever-tighter international regulation.

Deutsche Bank said it envisaged an initial public share offering for Postbank, although it said it would also consider a trade sale.

WirtschaftsWoche said Deutsche Bank would now prefer to sell Postbank to a competitor because this might fetch a higher price than a sale of shares.

"The deconsolidation of Postbank is and remains the declared goal of Deutsche Bank," a spokesman for Germany's biggest lender said.

Postbank declined to comment.

(Reporting by Jonathan Gould and Andreas Kroener; Editing by Greg Mahlich)