Deutsche Bank to buy back 4.8 bn euros in bonds

Germany's biggest lender Deutsche Bank announced Friday it would repurchase up to 4.8 billion euros ($5.4 billion) in bonds, adding that its liquidity position is strong enough to buy back the debt. The offer for bonds denominated in euros is worth up to 3 billion euros, while that for debt denominated in US dollars totals up to $2 billion. Stocks in Deutsche Bank had rocketed up more than 16 percent on Wednesday over speculation of the massive bond repurchasing programme, seen as muscle flexing to assuage concerns over its financial strength. Friday's announcement marks a second offensive by the group to allay fears, with its new chief executive John Cryan taking the unusual step this week of issuing a public statement and writing to the group's employees to say that the bank "remains absolutely rock-solid, given our strong capital and risk position." The entire European banking sector had lost about a fifth of their market capitalisation in January, dragged down by weakness in the eurozone economy and challenges facing banks from ultralow interest rates and regulatory pressures. But Deutsche Bank has taken a bigger battering because it is also entangled in a web of legal woes. Its share price has plunged by a third since the beginning of the year. The bank faces a quagmire of as many as 6,000 different litigation cases, the provisions for which helped push it to a record loss of 6.8 billion euros last year.