Germany's KfW bank begins process of selling shares in troubled IKB

Germany's state-owned KfW development bank, the biggest shareholder in troubled lender IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG, said Friday that it has launched an effort to sell its shares in IKB, which was battered by the U.S. subprime lending crisis.

KfW holds 37.8 percent of IKB, and its stake could increase to as much as 43.4 percent through convertible bonds that IKB issued earlier this month.

KfW said in a statement that potential bidders were invited to submit indicative offers, and could then carry out due diligence at IKB before submitting binding offers.

It said that IKB's second-largest shareholder _ Stiftung Industrieforschung, which holds …