The European wealth manager to be run by former UBS top banker Juerg Zeltner is adding a U.K. boutique to its stable.
KBL European Private Bankers is buying NW Brown, an U.K. wealth manager with 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion) in assets and 75 employees, the Luxembourg-based said in a statement on Thursday. Financial details of the deal weren't disclosed.
A 45-year-old boutique active in Norwich and Cambridge, NW will be folded into KBL unit Brown Shipley next year as a new hub in East Anglia. For Brown Shipley, the deal is a chance to nab some wealth from «Silicon Fen,» as the region around Cambridge full of tech start-ups is known.
«Cambridge is one of the UK’s most vibrant centers of innovation and entrepreneurship, providing us with a significant opportunity to grow across this future-focused region of the country,» Brown Shipley CEO Alan Mathewson said.
Rapid Expansion
The deal comes as Juerg Zeltner, who ran UBS' private bank until the end of 2017, is poised to take over the top spot at KBL. Qatar's ruling al-Thani family owns the wealth management group as a private investment.
The former UBS bigwig told finews.ch (in German) last month he planned to expand KBL rapidly in Europe and beyond. European regulatory approval for Zeltner, who also took a stake in KBL and will sit on its board, is pending.
KBL, founded in 1949, encompasses a network of private banks in Europe and the U.K., including Germany's Merck Finck, Brown Shipley in the U.K., and Dutch InsingerGilissen. Zeltner will replace KBL's current CEO Peter Vandekerckhove.
