(Bloomberg) -- M.M. Warburg & Co., one of the banks at the center of Germany’s biggest tax scandal, is considering a sale of itself as it seeks to draw a line under the crisis with a new ownership structure, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Shareholders of the Hamburg-based bank are working with advisers at Perella Weinberg Partners to review strategic options, according to the people. They could start gauging interest from potential buyers later this year, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. 

Deliberations are at an early stage and there’s no certainty they will result in a deal, they said. Representatives for M.M. Warburg, the owners and Perella Weinberg declined to comment.

M.M. Warburg, whose roots date back to 1798, has been rattled for years by the so-called Cum-Ex scandal in which traders exploited the way dividend tax was collected so that multiple investors could claim refunds on a tax that was only paid once. 

Scores of European and American banks participated at various levels, and by the time Germany stopped the trades in 2012, the practice may have cost the country as much as €10 billion ($10.7 billion).

Two former M.M. Warburg bankers were convicted of tax evasion late last year by a German court for participating in the scheme, the latest in a string of guilty verdicts implicating traders at the lender. Former Chief Executive Christian Olearius is currently also standing trial.

Olearius, 81, is accused of 14 counts of aggravated tax evasion between 2006 and 2019, and prosecutors say he knew all the details and approved the transactions at the lender. He has denied wrongdoing.

The bank is still owned by Max Warburg and Olearius, who holds 40%.

M.M. Warburg — founded in Hamburg’s current-day hip district of Altona more than two centuries ago by the Warburg brothers Moses Marcus and Gerson — was a financier for the city’s business families and the German Empire in its overseas expansion.

Led today by Markus Bolder and Stephan Schrameier, the lender has operations in asset management, corporate and investment banking as well as private banking. It posted a loss of €34 million in 2022 and has total equity of €225 million with assets roughly at €4 billion. 

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