Brussels, 06/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - After ten years of inquiries concluded in October 2004 (EUROPE 8811) and followed by several months of negotiations not only on repayment terms but also on recapitalisation of banks (EUROPE 8870), the Commission has approved the capital increases of three of the seven Landesbanken, which had benefited from EUR 3 billion in illegal State aid. The regional banks - HSH Nordbank, Bayer LB and Landesbank Hessen Thüringen (Helaba) - bowed to the demands of the Commission, which noted that the recapitalisation operations concerning them and in which public bodies took part met the requirements of a market economy and the private investor principle. On 20 July this year, HSH Nordbank (formed of the partnership between Hamburgische Landesbank and Landesbank Schleswig-Holstein, which had been condemned to reimburse EUR 90 and 432 million plus interests respectively), benefited from a capital increase of EUR 556 million, divided between the Länder of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, the savings banks association and West LB (itself condemned to repaying over 900 million in this affair). The capital of Bayer LB, which had to reimburse EUR 260 million, will be increased by two payments of EUR 320 million each (on 1 August 2005 and 1 July 2006), shared out equally between the Land of Bavaria and the association of savings banks of Bavaria. The Land of Hesse will transfer a special fund to Helaba, which had reimbursed EUR 6 million, and will profit from the transfer of a special fund from the Land of Hesse in the form of an unlimited tacit participation with market-based remuneration. The recapitalisation operations of West LB, Norddeutsche Landesbank (condemned to pay EUR 472 million) and Landesbank Berlin (condemned to pay 810 million) should be endorsed without further difficulties, a person familiar with public banking interests told us.