Postbank to put property portfolio up for sale

FRANKFURT, May 13 (Reuters) - Deutsche Postbank (DPBGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) is putting up for sale a majority of its property portfolio, a spokesman for Germany's biggest retail bank said on Tuesday.

He said the bank was evaluating the disposal of a packet called of 25 of its office buildings, confirming a story released by the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper on Tuesday ahead of publication on Wednesday.

The reason for the sale is that real estate management is not a core business for the bank, the spokesman said. A decision about the sale should come in the second half of the year.

The newspaper reported the buildings owned by Postbank were worth between 700 and 800 million euros ($1.1-$1.2 billion).

Postbank has hired Morgan Stanley, which has previously managed a real-estate sale for parent Deutsche Post (DPWGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), to handle the transaction, according to the report.

In April, Deutsche Post sold property worth a billion euros to U.S. Investor Lone Star LS.N. (Reporting by Rajiv Sekhri; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)