A Hong Kong-based boutique investment bank is expanding its European reach.
Hong Kong-based boutique investment bank, SC Lowy, with offices in London, Milan and Seoul, is pushing further into Europe. The bank is acquiring a controlling stake in an Italian bank Credito di Romagna, for 50 million euros. SC Lowy announced the transaction on its website.
The deal gives SC Lowy, which was co-founded in 2009 by former Deutsche Bank bankers Michel Lowy and Soo Cheon Lee, a stake of more than 90 percent in the Italian bank.
East to West
Flush with capital Asian-based investors and Chinese conglomerates have been snapping up European banks. In September 2017 China's Legend Holdings bought a 90 percent stake in Banque Internationale a Luxembourg for 1.48 billion euros making it the biggest takeover of a European deposit-taking bank by a Chinese firm to date.
One month later Copenhagen-based Saxo Bank announced Chinese carmaker Geely, the owner of Volvo, had offered to buy a majority stake in Saxo Bank. Geely has since received approval from the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority to buy the shares.
Fosun, the Shanghai-based conglomerate and investment company, increased its stake in Portuguese bank BCP to 30 percent last year. In 2016 Fosun bought Luxembourg-based private bank Hauck & Aufhäuser.
