The situation of Sal Oppenheim, the Luxembourg-headquartered private bank, appears worse than previously expected, after it emerged that Deutsche Bank has lent the firm hundreds of millions of euros more than previously thought, media reports suggest.

In August this year, Deutsche Bank made a “non-binding offer” for a capital stake in Sal Oppenheim, while not disclosing the possible size of such a stake. At the same time, Deutsche provided at loan of €300 million ($290 million), which was guaranteed by Sal Oppenheim through shares.

Yesterday the German business daily Handelsblatt cited industry sources as having said that the German banking giant has provided another loan of €350 million, while the Financial Times Deutschland reported that, by now, “at least” one third of Sal Oppenheim’s shares have been pledged as securities for Deutsche Bank loans.

A source familiar with the situation at Sal Oppenheim told WealthBriefing that it indeed seems to be the case that Deutsche Bank has provided loans worth about €650 million, of which it is thought some was used to strengthen the capital base of the firm and some to pay off debts.

However, the source suggested that the “new” loan might not be such a new development at all, but rather one that had only made its way into the public domain on Monday; it may have been agreed upon for some time, the source said.

This might suggest that it won’t change the negotiations between the two firms as much as some have thought.

Deutsche Bank was not available for comment at the time of publication.

One of Europe’s oldest private banks, Sal Oppenheim suffered a net loss of €117 million in 2008. The firm has been looking to sell its German BHF banking unit, but has reportedly said it is in no hurry to offload this business.