The IPO of Postbank is scheduled for 21 June 2004, reported Dr. Klaus Zumwinkel, Chairman of the Deutsche Post World Net Board of Management and Prof. Wulf von Schimmelmann, Chairman of the Postbank Management Board to journalists in Cologne on Thursday. The determination of the price range was to take place on June 5/6. The subscription period would then last from June 7 to June 18, 2004.

"Postbank has done its homework with considerable success. It again presented a pleasing result for the 2003 fiscal year, making itself "Fit for the stock exchange” more quickly than planned,” stated Zumwinkel. Von Schimmelmann is confident of gaining investors with the clear positioning as a private customer bank and the relatively low-risk business model. "We are confident that particularly in the present situation the capital markets will appreciate sound stocks with asset value.”

Zumwinkel stated that the key reason for the repositioning of Postbank was shareholder value. He wants to make the value of Postbank perceptible, thus increasing the valuation of the Group and the Bank. Up to now, Postbank had been regarded too strongly as a part of the Deutsche Post World Net logistics group. "This will change when Postbank is a listed company. Of course, we are constantly observing the markets around us, and will remain flexible to achieve an optimum result for our shareholders.”

Zumwinkel intends to deploy the proceeds from the issue within the Deutsche Post World Net Group, while at the same time remaining flexible. It would be possible to deploy the funds to improve the consolidated balance sheet or for operating investments.

19 banks in syndicate

The Postbank share is to be placed via a public bidding process among institutional and private investors in Germany and via a private placement to institutional investors outside Germany.

The banking syndicate headed by Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley as Joint Global Coordinators is made up of a total of 19 foreign and German banks. According to previous expectations, the focus of investors alongside Germany will be the Anglo-Saxon area, as investors in these countries are highly familiar with the business model of a retail bank. Postbank itself is assuming the function of Retail Coordinator within the syndicate. "However, in our opinion expectations at private investors are not currently very high," emphasized von Schimmelmann. The general uncertainty resulting from negative experiences in recent years and the current mixed economic situation still runs deep. For this reason the majority of the transaction is to be placed with institutional investors.

The planned Postbank IPO is not a capital increase. No new shares are being issued. The offer covers up to 81,999,999 shares. This is up to 50% minus one share of the entire Deutsche Postbank share capital. The offer includes a greenshoe of 11%.

Advantages for Post shareholders, Postbank customers and employees

"Our objective is that the private shareholders of Deutsche Post who have placed their trust in us over recent years should also benefit from the Postbank IPO. We shall therefore be offering preferential allocation for this group of investors," stated Zumwinkel. For legal reasons this was restricted to private shareholders residing in Germany. For employees in Germany, the Group has set up a staff participation program with guaranteed allocation.

Postbank customers inside Germany also obtain preferential treatment as private investors making a subscription: In the event of oversubscription, they are preferred for allocation. The condition is that they have a securities account at Postbank by the cut off point on 5 May 2004. The 330,000 customers of the securities brand Postbank Easytrade have this entitlement.