Four former partners of La Roche grew immensely wealthy selling the Swiss private bank. Rivals are keen to tie down the partners – and their money – after their abrupt exit from acquirer Vontobel, finews.com has learned.
The four partners of the centuries-old private bank shocked Vontobel with their exit, as finews.com reported exclusively: wealth managers Philip Baumann, Mathis Buettiker and brothers Christoph and Urs Gloor handed in their notice at Vontobel one day after receiving bonuses and premia from their new employer.
The carefully calculated exit by the Basel-based former La Roche partners illustrates the perils of private banking mergers. Founded in 1787, La Roche sold itself in 2015 to Notenstein – which rose from the ashes of disgraced Swiss bank Wegelin. Last year, Notenstein La Roche was sold to Vontobel – setting off a game of hopscotch for clients and assets.
Cultural Clash
La Roche's prestigious Rittergasse 25 (pictured below) address in Basel is emblematic of the cultural clash between partner-run private banks and publicly-listed wealth managers. If La Roche was only accountable to itself – and the partners to each other – Vontobel is largely in free float. The Gloors, Baumann, and Buettiker had apparently had enough of the warring factions.
For Vontobel, the loss of the four is painful and embarrassing – the Zurich-based bank splashed out 700 million Swiss francs ($695 million) to buy Notenstein La Roche. Of the original 16.5 billion in assets, Vontobel has held onto roughly 13.5 billion francs as of year-end.
Wealthy Partners
The other shoe is about to drop: the four erstwhile partners reportedly control roughly 2 billion francs in assets – a fair share of it their own funds. The Gloors, Buettiker, and Baumann collected immense wealth in the course of the sales, and from bonuses tied to their retention.
In 2015, La Roche's partners earned a collective 60 million francs when they sold the bank to Notenstein. Baumann, who married into the Sarasin banking family, had already cashed out once by that time. He was a partner in Basel-based Sarasin, which was sold first to Rabobank in 2007, then to Brazil's Safra Group in 2011.
Loyalty Payments
Last year, the partners were in for another payday – this time from Raiffeisen, which paid the four partners high retention bonuses for joining Vontobel. The Zurich-based bank, in turn, also ponied up loyalty payments in order to retain the quartet. A spokesman for Vontobel didn't comment on the financial details.
Less than a year later, the four La Roche partners – and their money – are looking for a new home. Another Basel-based wealth manager told finews.com it is «astonishing» that plans from the four have not yet seeped out in Basel, where private bankers traditionally maintain cozy ties to their wealthy clients.
Rivals Swarm
Urs Gloor and Philipp Baumann have been spotted at E. Gutzwiller, a 133-year-old rival wealth manager, finews.com has learned. Baumann is a close friend of Gutzwiller managing partner Peter Handschin; the bank still maintains the traditional model of unlimited financial liability by its partners.
E. Gutzwiller confirmed to finews.com that is has held talks with Gloor and Baumann. For his part, Buettiker is poised to launch his own wealth management project, people familiar with the matter told finews.com. Christoph Gloor, the most senior of the four partners, is also looking for a home for himself and his millions in Basel – observers frequently mention Baumann & Cie.
At Baumann, partners Daniel Rueedi and Matthias Preiswerk are co-managing the bank together after the exit of third partner Rolf Buehler last year. Preiswerk told finews.com that rumors Gloor could join Baumann as a partner are unfounded. His denial is credible: Baumann's private bankers privately frowned upon La Roche's sell-off to retail bank Raiffeisen in 2015.
