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NDB.com on the block
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July 27, 2001: 5:38 p.m. ET
Deutsche Bank looks to sell the online arm of National Discount Brokers
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Nine months after it bought the National Discount Brokers Group Inc., Deutsche Bank AG is in discussions to sell NDB's online arm, press reports said Friday.
Negotiations are at an advanced stage and a decision could come within the next two weeks, the Wall Street Journal said. Bidders for NDB's 300,00 individual investor accounts include E*Trade Group Inc. and Ameritrade Holdings Corp., the Journal said.
Ameritrade (AMTD: up $0.28 to $6.00, Research, Estimates) declined to comment. Neither E*Trade (ET: up $0.53 to $6.71, Research, Estimates) nor Deutsche Bank could be reached for comment.
In October, Deutsche Bank AG, Europe's largest bank in terms of assets, purchased the rest of National Discount Brokers Group Inc. it didn't already own for slightly more than $1 billion. Deutsche Bank paid about $1.02 billion, or $49 per share cash, for NDB's 20.9 million shares outstanding.
Jersey City, N.J.-based NDB is best known for its advertising campaign featuring a mallard duck and the slogan, "We put you under our wing."
Deutsche Bank bought NDB for its strong market-making presence, NDB Capital Markets Corp., which generates nearly two-thirds of NDB's revenue. Deutsche Bank is now looking to sell the online trading arm, NDB.com.
Deutsche Bank would prefer cash, not stock, for the deal, the Journal said. 
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