Kleinwort Benson in talks for acquiring Deutsche Bank’s BHF-Bank
07 Jul 2011
Deutsche Bank AG is in exclusive talks to sell its BHF-Bank subsidiary to private banking and wealth management firm Kleinwort Benson Group.
The talk with Kleinwort comes three months after similar talks with LGT Bank, owned by the Lichtenstein royal family collapsed due to the German regulator's objection to the sale.
The acquisition of BHF-Bank is being done through RHJ International, Kleinwort's Belgium-listed parent.
BHF-Bank, which came under Deutsche Bank as part of its €1-billion acquisition of private wealth manager Sal Oppenheim in 2009.
RHJ said that BHF-Bank, with its reputation among wealthy private clients and corporates in Germany, would be a further step in RHJ's transformation into a financial services group based on an independent private and merchant banking model.
BHF-Bank has €18.7 billion in assets and about 1,500 employees. Analysts had earlier pegged a sale figure for the Frankfurt-based bank at around €600 million ($931 million).