Private banks Julius Baer and EFG reportedly had talks about the former acquiring the latter in what could’ve been yet another major takeover deal in Switzerland.
Julius Baer held preliminary discussions with EFG International for a possible combination of the two Zurich-based private banks, according to a «Bloomberg» report citing unnamed sources.
Shortly after, a separate «Reuters» report claimed that such talks were held around February when CEO Philipp Rickenbacher exited after Julius Baer recorded Signa-linked losses, and were no longer occurring. EFG CEO Giorgio Pradelli was also considered as a potential head of the combined entity.
Major Takeover
If a deal is successful, it would mark yet another landmark deal and example of banking consolidation in Switzerland following the government-brokered takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS in March 2023.
This would include the combination of 427.4 billion francs ($467.4 billion) of global assets under management (AUM) at Julius Baer and 142.2 billion francs at EFG, according to public data as of the end of 2023.
Fifth Largest in Asia
In Asia, Julius Baer is the fifth largest private bank with $140 billion in AUM, according to finews.asia data while EFG had 30.9 billion francs in the region, according to its 2023 financial results.
