Banks may have to fire sale €24bn of assets

EUROPEAN banks are struggling to find buyers for at least €24 billion of businesses earmarked for sale as the sovereign debt crisis drags on, raising the likelihood they’ll have to settle for fire-sale prices.

EU lenders including Deutsche Bank AG and France’s Societe Generale SA have announced plans to shed more than $1 trillion (€750bn) of assets over the next two years to bolster capital. On top of selling loans, the banks put at least 50 businesses up for sale in markets spanning the globe, according to Bloomberg data.

“Expected valuations on many assets that are going be sold will need to come down,” said Eric Richard, co-head of the financial institutions group in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Credit Suisse Group AG. “There is a lot of backlog.”