The last laugh

tauringhuang.

Sep 4th 2008
From The Economist print edition

Commerzbank’s purchase of Dresdner holds lessons for other dealmakers


NOT so long ago, staff at Dresdner Kleinwort, the investment-banking arm of Dresdner, a German bank, used to refer to Commerzbank, a rival, as “Comedy bank”. No one is laughing now. On August 31st Allianz, an insurer, gave up the struggle to make anything of its 2001 purchase of Dresdner and sold the bank to Commerzbank for