LLB Acquires Private Bank in Vienna
Liechtensteinische Landesbank bought a private bank in Austria in a bid to grow its business. The bank a few day ago had said it was in takeover negotiations.
Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) acquired Semper Constantia Privatbank based in Vienna, the company said in a statement today. The announcement followed a statement earlier this week when the bank, which is controlled by the state of Liechtenstein, expressed its wish to grow through acquisitions.
Through the acquisition of Semper Constantia, LLB gains 17 billion Swiss francs in client assets and now has a business volume of more than 75 billion francs, it said today.
Boost for Wealth Management
LLB paid 185 million euros for the bank, consisting of equity and goodwill, will be paid partly in cash and partly in LLB shares. For this purpose, the bank is allocating 1.85 million of its own shares. The definitive purchase price will be decided on closing or after the end of the earn-out period respectively.
Through this purchase, LLB is expanding the wealth management business substantially. It also will build out Austria as a strong third home market in addition to Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
Acquisition in Two Stages
LLB plans to complete the acquisition in two stages. First, forecast for July 2018, LLB will make the acquisition of Semper Constantia. The second stage is slated for September, when LLB Austria will merge with Semper Constantia to form Liechtensteinische Landesbank (Austria).
The bank named Gabriel Brenna as chairman of the merged bank and Bernhard Ramsauer as his CEO. The company intends to move Ramsauer to the supervisory board at the annual general meeting of 2019.
New Shareholder Group at LLB
The current main shareholders of Semper Constantia will assume a 6 percent stake in LLB. The company proposes Karl Sevelda, chairman of Semper Constantia, as a new member of the board of LLB.
«In view of the similarities in their business models, corporate culture and range of services, the LLB Group is confident that it can secure continuity of high-quality support of the present clientele of Semper Constantia, while at the same time offering the staff interesting and valuable future prospects,» LLB said in the statement.
