J. Safra Sarasin Gruppe is expanding its private bank, snapping up an Israeli bank in Switzerland and Luxembourg. The deal is the latest in short order for the secretive wealth manager.
Brazilian-Swiss J. Safra Sarasin is buying the private banking activities of Bank Hapoalim in Luxembourg and Switzerland, it said on Tuesday. The firm will buy selected assets and advisor teams in Europe and Israel.
Safra Sarasin has been a voracious acquirer of rival private banks as many of them exit the industry, especially in Switzerland.
The secretive private bank disclosed neither financial details of the deal, which is set to close in the first half of next year, nor the total amount of assets it could buy. Hapoalim manages roughly 3.7 billion Swiss francs in Switzerland and 390 million euros in Monaco, according to bank statistics compiled by «TheBanks.eu».
Leumi, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley
«Bank Hapoalim is an excellent fit within our existing operations and a valuable contribution to our strategy of servicing the wealth management needs of our clients on a global basis,» Jacob J. Safra, vice-president of Safra Sarasin, said in a statement.
It is the second time the firm has snapped up an Israeli bank: two years ago Safra Sarasin bought the Luxembourg subsidiary of Bank Leumi. Detractors termed the deal too small to justify the risk, as finews.ch (in German) reported at the time.
The private bank also pounced when Credit Suisse elected to exit Monaco earlier this year, as well as shortly before, when the Swiss bank decided to offload its Gibraltar arm.
In 2014, Safra Sarasin bought Morgan Stanley's activities in Zurich and Geneva when the U.S. bank decided, as many foreign banks have as the costly regulatory burden rises following the end of banking secrecy, to leave Switzerland.
