Businessman Maurizio Borletti of Italy said that owners of Deustche Bank's real estate arm RREEF are selling their 70% share at French department store and tourist hotspot Printemps.

According to sources, RREEF and Borlette Group were in negotiation to reach a deal with Qatar which valued the department store at around $2.7 billion (2 billion euros).

The spokeswoman for Borletti said that the way how the stake of RREEF in Printemps would be cut between Borletti and Qatari investors is yet to be determined, and that the group is still in the process to finalize the offer.

Borletti owns department store La Rinascente in Italy and purchased Printemps together with RREEF from French retail and luxury group PPR  in a1.1 billion euro deal in 2006. 

Owning 16 stores with a total of 4,000 employees, Printemps reported increase in its turnover by 13% to 1.45 billion euros in its 2011/2012 year.