HSH Nordbank AG is to become a corporate bank with entirely private shareholders, including independent affiliates of Cerberus European Investments, J. C. Flowers & Co., GoldenTree Asset Management, Centaurus Capital LP and BAWAG. The federal state owners Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein and the Savings Bank Association of Schleswig-Holstein have concluded a contract to sell all of their indirectly held HSH Nordbank AG shares (in total 94,9 percent), thus achieving the first successful privatisation of a federal state bank in Germany. The agreement remains subject to various approval procedures. This includes the ownership control procedures of the banking supervision, as well as approvals from the European Commission and the state parliaments in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. Subject to all outstanding checks, the closing of the transaction is expected to occur in the second or third quarter of 2018.