Brazil's BTG Bank may be about to sell its BSI unit, not long after buying the Swiss company as it struggles to come to terms with the scandal following the arrest of its boss.
BTG Pactual only just completed the acquisition of Switzerland's BSI private bank, and the talk is already about a divestment. After the arrest of BTG founder and Chief Executive Officer André Esteves on suspicion of bribery and the subsequent liquidity problems, things have changed rapidly. Rumors abound that the Brazil-based financial services company is planning to sell BSI.
Potential buyers of the institute have already lodged their interest according to a report by radio station «RSI», based in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, which is also the home of the BSI bank.
Intesa Sanpaolo, Julius Baer, Chinese
Italian banking giant Intesa Sanpaolo and Julius Baer from Zurich are two of the interested parties, according to the radio report. Chinese financial companies also figure among the potential buyers of BSI, «RSI» said.
It comes as little surprise that Julius Baer figures prominently among the interested companies. Baer recently accomplished the integration of the international private banking unit of Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and thus is free to launch a further takeover bid.
Promising Target
Organic growth at Baer in the past quarter has been sluggish, suggesting that the private bank needs to buy a rival if it wants to increase assets under management quickly.
BSI seems to be a promising target with a strong organization in the boom market of Asia. With a stake in the outsourcing specialist B-Source BSI also has a business that may be of interest to all sorts of banks in times of cost-cutting measures.
