A Chinese investment firm is said to be in final talks to purchase one of Europe's oldest banks.
Qatari-owned Banque Internationale a Luxembourg (BIL), which was founded in 1856 and is the oldest private bank in Luxembourg, is understood to be in talks with Beijing based Legend Holdings, the owner of computer group Lenovo.
According to a report from news agency «Reuters» Legend, has been in discussions to buy around 90 percent of the private bank from Precision Capital, an investment vehicle of Qatar royal family members. The potential price could be up to $1.7 billion.
BIL is supervised by the European Central Bank together with Luxembourg's Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier. It employs some 2,000 people worldwide and had circa 37.7 billion euros of assets under management at the end of 2016.
Acquisitive Chinese Buyers
finews.asia reported earlier this year that super acquisitive Chinese conglomerate HNA increased its stake in Germany's Deutsche Bank to 9.92 percent just a few months after its first investment in the European banking giant.
Shanghai’s Fosun International paid $185 million for a stake in Banco Comercial Portugues, (BCP) Portugal’s biggest publicly traded lender by assets.
After the dilution of BCP's existing capital Fosun became the largest shareholder with its 16.7 percent stake.
