Research Update: German Landesbank Helaba And SFHT Group Banks Affirmed At 'A/A-1' On Acquisition Of WestLB's Assets; Outlook Stable Primary Credit Analyst: Harm Semder, Frankfurt (49) 69-33-999-158;
[email protected] Secondary Contact: Stefan Best, Frankfurt (49) 69-33-999-154;
[email protected] Table Of Contents Overview Rating Action Rationale Outlook Ratings Score Snapshot Related Criteria And Research Ratings List WWW.STANDARDANDPOORS.COM/RATINGSDIRECT JULY 10, 2012 1 986283 | 300025082 Research Update: German Landesbank Helaba And SFHT Group Banks Affirmed At 'A/A-1' On Acquisition Of WestLB's Assets; Outlook Stable Overview • German Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen Girozentrale (Helaba) has taken over WestLB's business with savings banks and parts of its business with public-sector and midsize corporate clients. • In our view, this transaction has no immediate impact on the SFHT group's credit profile. • We are affirming our 'A/A-1' ratings on the core member banks of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Hessen-Thueringen (SFHT) including their central bank, Helaba. • The stable outlook reflects our assessment that the financial profiles of SFHT and Helaba will stay relatively resilient under increasingly difficult market conditions, and are less likely to change over the next one to two years. Rating Action On July 10, 2012, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'A' long-term and 'A-1' short-term counterparty credit ratings on the core member banks of Germany-based Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Hessen-Thueringen (SFHT), including the regional savings banks and their central bank Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen Girozentrale (Helaba). The outlook is stable. Rationale The affirmation follows the Helaba's acquisition of about €40 billion of WestLB AG's business with savings banks and parts of its business with public-sector and midsize corporate clients, which will retroactively become effective on July 1, 2012.