China's HNA Becomes Largest Shareholder in Deutsche Bank After Raising Stake

Chinese conglomerate HNA Group has become Deutsche Bank AG's largest shareholder after increasing its stake in the German lender to almost 10%.

U.S. public filings show HNA raised its stake to 9.92% through C-Quadrat Asset Management (UK) LLP, the U.K. subsidiary of C-Quadrat Investment AG.

HNA's increased stake in Deutsche Bank makes it the lender's largest shareholder, ahead of members of Qatar's royal family and U.S. money manager BlackRock Inc., according to public filings.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment. HNA and C-Quadrat couldn't be reached immediately for comment.

At Tuesday's closing price, HNA's 204.7 million-share stake was worth about EUR3.4 billion ($3.7 billion). HNA has previously said its holding in Deutsche Bank is passive and it intended to keep it below 10%.

Based in China's Hainan province, HNA Group began as an airline operator, before expanding into hotels, tourism, logistics, real estate and finance. HNA's most high-profile acquisitions have been U.S.-based companies, with the firm last year taking a roughly 25% stake in hotelier Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.

Deutsche Bank last month completed an $8.5 billion capital increase in which HNA Group and other shareholders participated, people close to the matter said at the time. The fundraising, Deutsche Bank's third since 2013, aimed to soothe concerns about the strength of the bank's capital buffers.

-Write to William Wilkes at william.wilkes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 03, 2017 03:48 ET (07:48 GMT)