VIENNA | Fri Oct 19, 2012 12:29pm EDT
VIENNA Oct 19 (Reuters) - U.S. hedge fund Golden Tree could get an indirect 33 percent stake in Cerberus Capital Management's Austrian banking unit BAWAG PSK in a move that could help shore up BAWAG's balance sheet, a newspaper reported.
Without citing its sources, Austria's Der Standard said on Friday Golden Tree could convert debt into a stake of around a third in a holding company that owns BAWAG if Austrian regulators approved the deal. Cerberus would still hold 55 percent.
It said BAWAG could get around 200 million euros ($260.6 million) in fresh capital to help meet Basel III guidelines if the deal went through as expected.
A source familiar with the situation confirmed the report.
A spokesman for Austria's FMA markets watchdog said only that regulators had to approve any shareholder that got more than a 10 percent stake in a bank. They had two months to respond to a new shareholder's request to build such a stake.
Der Standard said the deal could wrap up by year's end.
In a statement, BAWAG said it was in talks with Cerberus "and other investors regarding the investment by Cerberus of a significant amount of new capital in BAWAG which would result in Cerberus maintaining a majority equity position".
It described the potential investment as being "in the discussion stage".
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