DEUTSCHE BANK is poised to sell most of its asset management business to Guggenheim Partners, the US group running investments of the Guggenheim family and foundation.

The German bank, which has been trying to divest the underperforming unit for several months, has entered into exclusive talks with the private US asset manager. Guggenheim, with about $125 billion under management, is the remaining bidder after a series of potential buyers, including Australia’s Macquarie, banks such as JPMorgan, State Street and Wells Fargo, and Ameriprise Financial, quit the race.

Deutsche had been seeking about €2 billion for the business, which has about €400 billion of assets under management. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012