European banks may require $97b

Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's biggest bank, and UniCredit SpA lead European banks that may need to raise a total 73 billion euros ($97 billion) to boost capital, Merrill Lynch & Co analysts said.

Deutsche Bank may need 8.9 billion euros, more than any other bank, Stuart Graham and Alexander Tsirigotis, two London- based Merrill analysts, wrote in a note to investors yesterdau. UniCredit SpA, Italy's largest bank, may need 7.4 billion euros."Raising such volumes of capital could be very difficult in the current environment," the analysts said.

"In most cases it will require government support, an unattractive option to most chief executive officers." Governments from the UK to Switzerland are injecting cash into some of the region's biggest lenders, among them UBS AG and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, to boost their capital. That intervention may leave other European banks at a disadvantage as economic growth slows, according to Merrill."Capital strength is clearly a competitive advantage right now," the analysts said in the note. Investors "will likely attach discounts to the share prices of banks that are perceived to be too thinly capitalized."