The sometimes sleepy world of traditional German private banking has not escaped the M&A merry-go-round.

The Chinese holding group Fosun, which in June was reportedly among bidders for German private bank Hauck & Aufhaeuser Privatbankiers, is to buy the venerable business for as much as €210 million ($231.6 million).

Fosun is backed by the Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang.

In a statement filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange earlier this week, Fosun said its subsidiary, Fosun Industrial Holdings, has agreed to buy all of the registered no-par value ordinary shares of H&A and that 80 per cent of the German bank’s shareholders have consented to the offer.

“Subject to how many of the other H&A shareholders accept the offer, the maximum amount of the purchase price for the target shares (if all of the H&A shareholders accept the offer) shall be €210 million,” the statement said, adding that the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of certain regulatory approvals in Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Fosun has been on an acquisition drive in recent months. Reuters said the firm has unveiled 10 takeovers worth a combined $6.4 billion in the past year. In May, the company announced the $1.84 billion acquisition of Bermuda-based insurer Ironshore Inc.
The German private bank was founded in Frankfurt and Munich by Friedrich Michael Hauck in 1796 and Heinrich Aufhäuser in 1870.

Germany’s private banking sector is an onshore market and tends not to cause much of a stir outside its home turf. This publication recently profiled this large European economy’s wealth management industry. (See here.)