Press Release: State aid: Commission gives final approval to existing guarantee ceiling for German HSH Nordbank

On 2 May 2016, the European Commission found a €3 billion re-increase of the guarantee ceiling granted in June 2013 by the German Länder of Hamburg and Schleswig Holstein to stabilise the German bank HSH Nordbank in line with EU state aid rules.

This decision was based on new commitments by Germany to split HSH Nordbank (HSH) into two parts and to sell the operational business without additional state aid. It enabled the bank's core activities to remain in the market if the sale process was completed successfully and the resulting entity was viable. This followed the agreement in principle reached between European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager and German authorities in October 2015.