French independent financial services company Oddo & Cie yesterday said that it was planning to make an offer for asset manager BHF Kleinwort Benson Group SA, rivaling an existing bid from Chinese giant Fosun International Ltd (復星國際).
Oddo is offering 5.75 euros (US$6.08) per share for Belgian-owned BHF Kleinwort Benson, whose main activities are private banking and asset management. It values BHF at 760 million euros.
That compares with a 5.10 euro bid that Fosun put on the table in July.
Oddo already holds a 21.57 percent stake in BHF and said in a statement it was prepared to acquire more than 50 percent of the company after reaching an agreement with two other shareholders, the Franklin Templeton and Aqton groups.
However, Oddo still needs a green light from banking regulatory authorities to proceed with its bid.
Media reports have said BHF had been hoping Oddo would enter the fray as a “white knight” to rescue it from coming under the control of the Fosun conglomerate, which has been aggressively buying into European financial services.
The Frankfurt-based BHF Kleinwort Benson, formerly RHJ International, specializes in private banking and asset management, but is also involved in activities tied to the financial markets and the financing of businesses.
Separately, HSBC Holdings PLC is to close down its private banking business in India and transfer about 70 staff following a strategic review of the operations, people familiar with the matter said.
The London-based lender is to move employees from the Indian private banking arm to the Premier banking business under HSBC’s retail bank, the people said.
HSBC confirmed in an e-mailed statement it decided to shut the global private banking operations in India.
The changes are expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year, according to the statement.
“We will work closely with our clients to minimize the impact of this decision and give them a choice to move to HSBC Premiere,” a spokesperson for the bank said.
HSBC’s India staff count stands at about 32,000 and there will be no change in that, the spokesperson added.
Chief executive officer Stuart Gulliver, 56, unveiled a three-year plan in June to pare back HSBC’s sprawling global network, shut money-losing businesses and eliminate as many as 25,000 jobs after compliance costs surged.
Other European lenders, including Credit Suisse Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG, are also cutting thousands of jobs as they adapt to tougher regulatory demands on capital.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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