The CEO of asset manager 1875 Finance says he and his co-founders do not want to sell the entire company to Bank Reyl at least for a few years after it took a minority stake.
The CEO of 1875 Finance, Paul Kohler, says there will be no merger in the near future between his company and Bank Reyl, which Thursday announced it was taking a 40 percent stake in the Geneva-based asset manager.
In an interview with Swiss newspaper «Le Temps» (in French behind paywall), Kohler said that Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo, which controls Bank Reyl, offered to take a majority stake in 1875 Finance last November.
Staying Put
«We managed to convince them that acquiring 40 percent would allow us to maintain the company’s momentum. We, the four co-founders aged 45-54, will remain in place and do not want to sell.
«The agreement with Intesa Sanpaolo involves nothing changing for a number of years, and then we will look into all the various scenarios. In the short term, [Reyl Group CEO] François Reyl and another person still to be appointed will join 1875 Finance’s various boards,» Kohler told the newspaper.
Asked about the choice of Intesa Sampaolo as a partner, Kohler said they had been looking for one who could provide financing solutions to 1875 Finance’s clients, offer management and advisory support to companies and who would support it in taking advantage of the consolidation among Swiss independent asset managers.
He added that Intesa Sanpaolo was the only bank to meet all these conditions out of the banks from the U.K, Germany, the U.S. and France with which 1875 Finance talked.
Takeover Targets
Asked whether he had any targets in mind for takeover among Swiss independent asset managers, Kohler said 1875 Finance was in touch with various parties.
«We are targeting institutions managing more than a billion [francs] in assets and ideally 3 billion [$3.3 billion] to justify the work involved in an acquisition,» he told the newspaper.
