Commerz to buy Kirch's Axel stake

FRANKFURT, Germany (CNN) -- Germany's Commerzbank plans to buy Kirch's 40 percent stake in German publisher Axel Springer Verlag and possibly float the company within three years.

Commerzbank is leading a group that includes rivals Dresdner Bank, Bayerische Landesbank Girozentrale and Friede Springer, the widow of founder Axel, in a deal estimated to be worth about 1.1 billion euros. That figure is based on a previous bid by HVB Group.

Leo Kirch, 75, is seeing his KirchMedia group, built up over the past 47 years, coming apart. KirchMedia filed for insolvency after the group failed to reach agreement with creditor banks and minority shareholders on plans to reduce its debts of about 6.5 billion euros ($5.72 billion).

The Springer stake is owned through KirchBeteiligungs, which has not been affected by insolvency of KirchMedia. Axel Springer is Europe's biggest newspaper publisher and owns tabloid paper Bild.