M and A

REYL Agrees Full Ownership Of Luxembourg Bank

Tom Burroughes Group Editor 21 September 2018

REYL Agrees Full Ownership Of Luxembourg Bank

The Luxembourg bank has been owned by a Swedish family.

Switzerland’s REYL & Cie is buying the outstanding capital of financial group Öhman Bank SA Luxembourg, which is owned by a Swedish family. The deal brings over about €800 million ($940.5 million) of assets under management to REYL.

The financial size of the transaction was not disclosed in a statement from REYL yesterday. The binding agreement has to be approved by relevant regulators; it is expected to be completed by the first three months of 2019. 

“REYL will take advantage of Öhman Bank SA Luxembourg’s longstanding presence and in-depth understanding of clients’ needs in the Nordic markets, with the objective of offering its new client base its full range of services using a transversal approach,” the Geneva-based firm said.

The deal continues REYL’s involvement in the European state, where it has been present since 2009. Today, it operates through its subsidiaries REYL Private Office (Luxembourg) and REYL Prime Solutions SA.

REYL said it intends to operate its wealth management, corporate and family governance, corporate advisory and structuring, asset and asset management services in the state under the REYL & Cie (LUXEMBOURG) SA brand name.

Deloitte financially advised REYL on the deal.

Bankirfirman E Öhman J:or, the Öhman group’s parent company, was founded in 1906 by Emric Öhman. In 1934 Max Dinkelspiel was offered to take over the firm and it has been run by the Dinkelspiel family since then. Tom Dinkelspiel is chairman of the board and Johan Malm is managing director of the group (source: corporate website).

Among other Luxembourg-related developments, Bank of Singapore in July won an investment company licence to operate a wealth management subsidiary in Luxembourg, which it said was a first for a Singapore private bank, and a sign of how the jurisdiction’s banks are pushing their footprint westward. Macquarie Investment Management, a division of Macquarie Group, also in July completed the acquisition of Luxembourg-based ValueInvest Asset Management, an investment manager that focuses on global equities. In January, UBS has agreed to acquire the Luxembourg-based private bank of Nordea, the Scandinavian banking group, for an undisclosed sum. The move is part of UBS’ move to build out an onshore European banking footprint following the establishment of its Europe HQ in Germany two years ago.

Luxembourg, well known for a being a registration hub for cross-border UCITS funds and companies seeking to mitigate tax, has been regarded as potentially benefiting from any transfer of business out of London, depending on the kind of Brexit agreement the UK does, or does not, obtain.

The European private banking industry continues to see M&A deals, such as the transaction this week involving Germany's Berenberg.

 

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