BNP Paribas reinforces wealth ambitions with Fortis acquisition
BNP Paribas could nearly double its assets under management at its private banking unit with the acquisition of Fortis, making it one of the biggest wealth managers in Europe.
Although the exact details of the deal with Fortis are still vague, BNP Paribas could gain more than €50bn in assets under management from the acquisition of the Dutch-Belgian conglomerate’s wealth business.
Fortis said its wealth management unit managed around €79.3bn of assets at the end of the first half of 2008. BNP Paribas Private Banking said it had €63bn of assets under management at the end of 2007.
But the BNP Paribas deal does not include acquiring Fortis’ business in Holland that will ensure the assets under management transfer is less than the €79.3bn recorded by Fortis.
Analysts said the Paris-based wealth manager will acquire a strong wealth management franchise.
“The move is a logical step for BNP Paribas. The Fortis wealth management unit is solid, well run and has a complimentary rather than duplicate client base to the French shop,” said Sebastian Dovey, managing partner of Scorpio Partnership, a wealth consultancy.
He added that Fortis Private Banking was particularly strong in Belgium and Luxembourg.
The additional assets will make BNP Paribas Private Banking the biggest wealth manager in France, taking over from SG Private Banking, which has approximately €70bn of assets under management.
However, the exact details of the wealth management part of the BNP Paribas/Fortis deal are still unclear in a number of respects.
The ownership of private banks Banque Neuflize OBC in Paris and Delbrück Bethmann Maffei in Frankfurt is still in doubt.
Both were branded under the ABN Amro name and would have been part of the Fortis deal before the BNP Paribas acquisition, said analysts.
Calls to BNP Paribas and the two banks were not returned.
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