The planned major merger on the German housing market caused sharp price movements for the two companies involved at the start of the week - in opposite directions.

The shares of Deutsche Wohnen made a price jump of more than 15 percent in early trading.

Vonovia shares, on the other hand, were almost 5 percent cheaper.

Both groups are listed in the German Dax share index. 

The largest German real estate group Vonovia wants to take over its next largest domestic competitor for around 18 billion euros or 53.03 euros per Deutsche Wohnen share.

That corresponds to a premium of almost 18 percent on the closing price on Friday and 25 percent on the volume-weighted three-month average.

With the price increase to EUR 51.90 on Tuesday morning, investors leave a bit of a buffer in the event that things go wrong.

There have already been several attempts at such a merger.

In contrast to previous attempts, Vonovia was able to secure the support of the Deutsche Wohnen top this time.

"Takeover would make strategic sense"

The takeover would make strategic sense for Vonovia and this time also have good chances of success, writes analyst Thomas Rothäusler from the Jefferies investment bank. The initial dilution effect for Vonovia is high. On the occasion of the planned takeover, the private bank Berenberg left Vonovia's rating at "Buy" with a target price of EUR 66. The majority of Deutsche Wohnen's shareholders should accept the purchase offer because it is reasonably attractive and bar offers are generally well received, wrote analyst Kai Klose in a study published on Tuesday. Since residential real estate offers considerable


operational synergies, he considers the desired synergies to be realizable.

Even beyond the merger plans on the housing market, the German stock exchange has started the week on a positive note.

After the good start to the week on Wall Street, the Dax was also able to set a new record straight away after the extended Whitsun weekend.

Shortly after the start of trading on Tuesday, the German benchmark index gained 0.78 percent to 15,558.22 points.

The stock market barometer set its latest record a week ago.

For the M-Dax of the medium-sized German stock market values, it rose by 0.90 percent to 32,706.92 points on Tuesday morning.

The leading Eurozone index Euro Stoxx 50 rose by 0.39


percent to 4051.29 points.

Fed dampens inflation worries

Statements by key players in the US Federal Reserve have dampened investors' concerns about inflation, it said. The American technology exchange Nasdaq in particular benefited from this on Whit Monday. The market-wide index S&P 500 is also heading back to its record from the beginning of May. The spark also jumped in Asia: The share prices in Japan and China rose.

At the building materials group Heidelberg-Cement, the sale of most of the business in the western United States provided a boost. In early trading, the DAX group's share price rose 2.2 percent. The Heidelberg company put the proceeds from the sale to the manufacturer of building materials Martin Marietta Materials at 2.3 billion dollars. The Bloomberg news agency had already reported an impending sale in December 2020, but estimated the sales price to be lower. Accordingly, analysts are now celebrating the high rating, said a trader.