The German government-owned bank KfW agreed to sell a 4.5-percent stake in its company, Deutsche Telekom, to the U.S. company Blackstone for 2.68 billion euros (about 3.3 billion US dollars), the two parties announced Monday.

Under the deal, the German telecommunications giant will be sold at 14.0 euros per share to the U.S. private equity firm.

The state-owned KfW said the transaction would leave it holding 17.3 percent of the company. The German government holds another 15.2 percent directly, meaning the state's overall stake will fall to 32.5 percent.

In a press release, KfW said that the deal was part of its strategy of broadening the investor base in its privatization of Deutsche Telekom.

The bank also said that it had agreed, as part of the deal, not to sell any more of its remaining 17.3 percent stake in Deutsche Telekom for a period of one year.

Source: Xinhua