* Deutsche Bank to boost capital to narrow gap to peers
* Seeks 2.8 bln eur from cap hike, and a further 2 bln eur
* Deutsche sees core tier one ratio at 9.5 pct
* Q1 pretax profit 2.4 bln eur vs Rtrs poll avg 1.7 bln
* New shares seen offered at 5-7 pct discount
By Edward Taylor and Arno Schuetze
FRANKFURT, April 29 (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank said it will beef up its balance sheet with a 2.8 billion euro($3.7 billion) capital increase and unveiled forecast-beatingfirst-quarter earnings following a wave of aggressive cost cuts.
Germany's flagship lender said it will also seek anadditional 2 billion euros of subordinated capital over the next12 months as it strives to narrow the gap withbetter-capitalised peers.
Deutsche Bank is among a slew of European banks currentlyraising capital, including Russia's second-largest bank VTB, Germany's second largest lender Commerzbank as well as Greek and Spanish banks.
According to a source close to the Deutsche Bank, the lenderaims to improve its ability to increase dividend payouts incoming years. Since 2009, Deutsche Bank has kept its dividendstable at 75 cents a share.
New shares will likely be sold at a discount of 5 to 7percent to Monday's closing price of 32.90 euros, financialmarket sources said.
The move was welcomed by analysts, as a bigger capitalcushion gives banks greater flexibility to pay dividends andpursue acquisitions.
"It's long overdue. The question is whether it will beenough," said Andrew Lim, analyst at Espirito Santo in London.
Deutsche Bank shares closed up 1.7 percent at 32.90 euros.
Following completion of the capital measures, Deutsche Bankexpects its core tier one capital ratio to increase toapproximately 9.5 percent, from 8.8 percent at the end of 31March, 2013.
By comparison, rival Barclays has a core tier oneratio of 8.4 percent, Credit Suisse of 8.6 percent, JPMorgan of 8.9 percent and Goldman Sachs of 9percent.
In January, co-chief executive Anshu Jain said the questionover whether Germany's lender needed a capital hike was drivenby uncertainty over the likely burden of future bank regulation.
The Federal Reserve Board has demanded that foreign banksoperating in the United States hold as much capital as theirU.S. counterparts, regardless of how well their overseas parentcompanies are funded.
Deutsche on Monday posted a pretax profit of 2.4 billioneuros ($3.14 billion), beating analyst expectations for 1.7billion euros, as aggressive cost cuts outpaced a slight drop inrevenues at the investment bank.
First-quarter pretax profit rose 28 percent, while revenueincreased 2 percent. Non-interest expenses dropped 5 percent.
In March, Deutsche Bank said it expected a "solid"first-quarter across all businesses and later added it seesmargins improving as competitors pull back.
In January, Deutsche Bank announced one-off charges ofalmost $4 billion to adjust the valuations of risky assets in anattempt to shrink its balance sheet. Then in March, the banksaid its full-year pretax profit would be cut by another 600million euros due to a hike in legal provisions.
Barclays (BARC)