Jardine Strategic Holdings yesterday announced that it has bought a 20 per cent stake in Rothschilds Continuation Holdings for $185 million....

Jardine Strategic Holdings yesterday announced that it has bought a 20 per cent stake in Rothschilds Continuation Holdings for $185 million. The stake was bought from British insurer Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance. RCH is the parent company of NM Rothschild. “Royal & Sun Alliance has been closely aligned with the Rothschild Group,” said RCH chairman David de Rothschild in a statement. He added: “I appreciate that today its policy is to focus on general insurance and that it wishes to dispose of non-core investments.” Royal & Sun said in a separate statement in London that it had sold a 21.5 per cent stake in Rothschilds Continuation for $198.2 million in cash, 20 per cent going to Jardine Strategic and 1.5 per cent to a Rothschilds Continuation employee share trust. The deal does not include Rothschild's French business and some of the bank's interests in Spain, Portugal, Germany and Italy or most of its private banking operations. Mr de Rothschild said in an interview with Reuters the link with Jardine will have benefits for developing the bank’s business in Asia. He added that Rothschild's aim is to grow market share in other regions and specifically in Asia, where he sees opportunities in equity capital markets, private banking and private equity.