Several parties have expressed interest but it now appears that the Ticino bank BSI is about to be sold for the second time within a year. The prospective purchaser is also domiciled in Switzerland.
EFG, the Zurich-based private banking group, according to the «Financial Times», (paywall), has emerged as the highest bidder in the auction for BSI and is now expected to enter into exclusive talks on a deal likely to value BSI above 1.2 billion Swiss francs (US$1.2 billion).
Selling Price Equal
Last week, the Ticino cantonal bank joined other parties in expressing an interest in acquiring BSI. The sale, which has attracted a handful of bids, is being hurried through by the appointed advisers Lazard as BTG has been fighting a liquidity crunch.
BTG Pactual ran into financial difficulties after its CEO and co-founder André Esteves had been arrested in the Petrobras-corruption case. Grupo BTG Pactual only recently concluded the acquisition of BSI for 1.25 billion Swiss francs ($1.29 billion).
EFG track record
This will not be the first time that the Zurich-based bank has been willing to pay the top price for an acquisition. EFG was rumoured to have also been the highest bidder for the Asian private-banking units of French bank Societe Generale, before eventually losing out to Singaporean bank DBS.
