A bank nationalisation in Germany was notified for clearance under the EU Merger Regulation and was approved by the European Commission on 15 May 2009. Hypo Real Estate AG (HRE) is to be acquired by Germany’s state-owned Financial market Stabilisation Fund (SoFFin). SoFFin was created by Germany in October 2008 as a tool to help stabilise the economy in Germany. SoFFin can buy shareholdings in private banks and other financial institutions in order to help them alleviate the current financial burden. The deal was notified under the EU Merger Regulation because it could not be demonstrated that HRE operates as a separate commercial entity with independence from other state-controlled undertakings and the German Ministry operates other financial institutions, notably the Kreditstanstalt für Wiederaufbau.