Deutsche Bank swoops on Postbank

By John O'Donnell and Jonathan Gould

FRANKFURT/BONN (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) has swooped on Deutsche Postbank (DPBGn.DE) in a deal worth up to $13 billion (7.3 billion pounds) that could cement its dominance in Germany by handing it control of the country's biggest retail lender.

It is the second bumper all-German banking deal in as many weeks after Commerzbank (CBKG.DE) bought Dresdner Bank.

But the two-stage manoeuvre -- Deutsche will pay 2.8 billion euros for just under 30 percent of the post-office bank now, with an option to launch a full-blown takeover later -- raised eyebrows because it needs 2 billion euros from new shares and debt.

"For relatively little capital, we have secured the dominant position in Europe's biggest economy forever," Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Josef Ackermann told a hastily convened media conference on what could be its biggest takeover in a decade.

Investors, however, were less enthusiastic. Shares in Postbank tumbled more than 9 percent, with one trader citing confusion about the structure of the deal, with its option to increase the stake.

The prospect of raising fresh capital from the stock market sent Deutsche Bank's stock diving 5 percent, lopping almost $2 billion off its market value.

"This is bad," said Dirk Becker, an analyst at Landsbanki Kepler.

"I don't know why Deutsche are doing it in the first place; it doesn't fit. I don't know why they are doing it for this price. It all seems to have been pretty spontaneous."