Should John Latsis, who has followed an academic career, question his involvement in EFG, then a sale rather than a switch in control will be the result.
Lack of Profile
This looks inevitable for several reasons. Firstly the group has already been put up for sale. The deal with Julius Baer Erstens failed to materialise in 2015. Secondly EFG, with its size, belongs to the category of «too small to live – too big to die».
Thirdly, the chances of organic growth are slim given the competition, which in Switzerland is better focused and organized. Fourthly, EFG International lacks a profile. As a Swiss bank with a market-specific offering, a strong client focus and broad service and investment choice, doesn’t have enough to make it stand out.
«Trim it into Shape and Sell»
A bank insider told finews.com: «The solution will be to clean the bank up and make it fit for a sale.» The growth prospects are simply too poor. In the current market consolidation, a sale candidate like EFG would certainly elicit interest from a foreign rival. The bank declined to comment on how it would react to a takeover offer.
As always, such situations will be resolved by price. With its market capitalization of just over 2 billion francs, the time for the possible seller – the Latsis family – hasn’t yet arrived.
It is up to CEO Pradelli, a long serving employee at the EFG Europabank and close to the family, to push the share price higher. In order to achieve this, he will need to achieve cost savings of 240 million francs by 2019. Then the private bank would be fit enough for a sale.
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