Hinduja Group is
to buy KBC Group’s banking subsidiary KBL for €1.35bn ($1.65bn) to
give its Swiss bank greater access to the fast-growing Middle
Eastern, Indian and Asian markets.
Family-run Hinduja Bank, based in Switzerland,
has long been linked with KBC’s private banking arm and group
CFO Ajay Hinduja hinted in March (see PBI 258) that
Hinduja was in discussions with several other potential merger and
acquisition targets.
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The bank bought Banca Commerciale Lugano in
February and was recently granted a banking licence in Dubai.
At the end of 2009, KBL had assets under management of €47bn and
assets under custody of €37bn.
Middle East, Indian subcontinent and Asia
targeted
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By GlobalDataHinduja Group said it intended to grow KBL
internationally by using the group’s business interests in more
than 100 countries.
Hinduja Group chairman Srichand Hinduja said
the bank planned to invest further in the business, maintaining
each of the subsidiaries, while also providing KBL with access to
the fast growing markets of the Middle East, the Indian
subcontinent and Asia.
“In this way, we hope to address the private
banking needs of clients internationally and facilitate capital
flows between fast growing economies and established Western
financial markets,” Hinduja said.
KBC continues in Belgium and CEE
KBC will continue to offer private banking
services in Belgium and Central and Eastern Europe through its
KBC-branded private banking businesses.
KBL is one of Europe’s largest onshore private
banking groups with affiliated local banks in 55 locations across
ten European countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg,
Monaco, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
The acquisition is subject to regulatory
approval and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of
2010.
