Dutch cooperative Rabobank agreed to sell its majority stake in private Swiss bank Sarasin to Brazilian-Swiss private bank Safra for 1.04 billion Swiss francs ($1.13 billion), scuppering a tie-up sought by rival Julius Baer
AMSTERDAM/ZURICH, Nov 25 (Reuters) – Dutch cooperative Rabobank agreed to sell its majority stake in private Swiss bank Sarasin to Brazilian-Swiss private bank Safra for 1.04 billion Swiss francs ($1.13 billion), scuppering a tie-up sought by rival Julius Baer.
Sarasin on Friday voiced relief that months of uncertainty, as Rabo weighed whether and how to offload the stake in Sarasin are coming to an end.
“In Safra, we will have a new and well capitalized majority shareholder that will reinforce our strong position as an independent Swiss private bank under the Sarasin brand and that will support our business model,” Sarasin Chief Executive Joachim Straehle said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
Straehle was referring to a bidding war over Sarasin between larger Swiss rival Julius Baer, Safra and — according to reports — at least one other bank. In recent months, Sarasin was not shy about expressing its preference for other bidders over Julius Baer.
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