Investing.com -- Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Deutsche Bank AG's retail banking, affluent private banking and wealth management business in India.

The business includes approximately INR 29,000 crore in loans, INR 16,000 crore in deposits and INR 10,500 crore of assets under management. The unit serves around 150,000 customers through a team of about 1,000 employees.

Ashok Vaswani, Managing Director and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said, "This transaction aligns well with our focus on the affluent and SME segments. It is a strong strategic fit and makes sound commercial sense. It also brings a high-quality customer franchise and experienced teams and adds incremental scale and adjacency opportunities."

Kaushik Shaparia, CEO of Deutsche Bank Group India and Emerging Asia, said, "This transaction marks an important step in sharpening Deutsche Bank's portfolio and focusing on areas where we have scale, strength, and the ability to deliver sustained returns."

The acquisition forms part of Kotak's inorganic growth strategy of pursuing targeted opportunities that strengthen its core franchise. For Deutsche Bank, this step aligns with the group's Global Hausbank strategy of simplifying the business and focusing on competitive strengths.

About 1,000 Deutsche Bank employees in India are expected to join Kotak as part of this transaction. Both banks will work closely to ensure continuity of service for customers throughout the transition and post-closing.

The transaction is expected to close by September 2027, subject to regulatory approvals from the Competition Commission of India and other customary conditions. At closing, the transaction is expected to be ROE accretive for Kotak bank and CET1 accretive for Deutsche Bank.