A Frankfurt court has approved the sale of Gerling’s reinsurance division to Globale Management, setting aside a ban on the sale imposed by the German financial services regulator.

The court said the regulator, Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht  – for obvious reasons better known as BaFIN – had “overstepped its boundaries”.

BaFIN said in February that Globale wouldn’t be able to keep the Gerling companies afloat. It is reviewing the court decision before deciding on an appeal.

Gerling is in run-off in Australia. Its owners, majority shareholder Rolf Gerling and partner Deutsche Bank AG, have been looking for a buyer for the company since 2001.

Although no official selling price has been announced, Gerling is expecting to get as much as $US3.36 billion for the sale.