The Arab owners of the Swiss-based private bank Falcon are looking to sell the company, according to media reports. However this may prove a difficult undertaking.
Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi state fund, would like to offload its private bank in Switzerland, news agency «Reuters» reported, citing five separate sources, which suggests there may some truth to the report.
Banque Havilland Backs Off
The owners of the bank have been in talks with Luxembourg-based Banque Havilland, and the potential buyer already conducted a due-diligence test of Falcon, «Reuters» said. Falcon manages about 10.5 billion Swiss francs in assets.
The negotiations however came to nothing, because Falcon is involved in the corruption scandal surrounding the Malaysian state fund 1MDB.
High Turnover
This makes any acquisition of Falcon a risky undertaking for any potential buyer. Falcon had its banking license in Singapore withdrawn even before the sanctions imposed by the Swiss financial market regulator Finma.
There has been a high turnover in management since the departure of ex-Credit Suisse banker Walter Berchtold as CEO in the fall of 2017. The bank since has tried to reposition itself as a fintech bank, but the Middle Eastern owners appear to have other plans for Falcon.
