DWS launches sale of fund administration unit IKS: sources

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank’s asset manager DWS has launched an auction for its fund administration unit IKS as it seeks to simplify its operations, people close to the matter said.

Potential buyers including Sweden’s MFEX, Deutsche Boerse and FNZ Group – the owner of IKS rival ebase – are expected to hand in non-binding bids next week alongside several private equity firms, they said.

IKS is expected to achieve a valuation of between 300 million and 400 million euros ($354 million to $472 million) in a potential sale, the sources added.

DWS and parent Deutsche Bank, which is acting as sellside adviser, declined to comment while the potential buyers had no immediate comment.

IKS, with about 2 million customers, has assets under management of more than 100 billion euros and in 2018 announced that the fund management platform would be combined with its robo adviser WISE and DWS’s investment app Edison to form a new digital platform.

($1 = 0.8476 euros)

(Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by Tom Sims and David Goodman)