Sunday, October 5th, 2008

BERLIN (AP) - The German Finance Ministry says government officials and private banks have agreed to a new 50 billion euro ($69 billion) deal to bail out Hypo Real Estate AG. A ministry statement says the deal will add up to 15 billion euros ($21 billion) in credit to an earlier plan worth 35 billion euros ($48 billion).

Under the original plan, the German government would have injected 27 billion euros ($37 billion) into the country's No. 2 commercial property lender and banks would have provided the rest. That deal fell apart Saturday. German lawmakers and bankers spent Sunday devising a more aggressive solution.

The statement says the plan will assure Hypo's solvency and "strengthen the financial community of Germany in difficult times."

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)