FRANKFURT (AFP) - The Luxembourg-based investment bank Sal. Oppenheim said Wednesday it had sold its equity trading and derivatives business to the Australian bank Macquarie.

Oppenheim, which is being taken over by Deutsche Bank, did not provide details on the price of the sale.

More than 90 Oppenheim employees would transfer to Macquarie as part of the deal, which is to close early in the second quarter of 2010, a statement said.

Macquarie would gain "access to a new range of products, a platform with state-of-the-art technology and top-class employees with in-depth knowledge of the domestic markets," Macquarie derivatives director Mark Gilbert said in a company statement.

Sal. Oppenheim is active in derivatives trading in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy, the statement said.

Deutsche Bank said in late October that it would buy Oppenheim for one billion euros (1.42 billion dollars).

The bank was founded in 1789 and billed itself as the largest independent private bank in Europe.