The Rothschild dynasty has delivered a blow to the Paris stock market by deciding to take its investment bank private.
Rothschild & Co, which helped fund the Duke of Wellington’s victory in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo, has been listed in the French capital since 1838 and is one of the most recognised names in global finance.
But the family will now take full control through its holding company Concordia in a deal that values the bank at £3.4billion.
Seventh generation: Alexandre de Rothschild, who currently runs Rothschild & Co, is the son of David de Rothschild who stepped aside four years ago
The move comes ten years after a reorganisation brought the French and British businesses under one roof as Rothschild & Co.
Concordia already owns 38.9 per cent of the shares and 47.5 per cent of the voting rights.
The bank is made up of three divisions – global advisory, wealth and asset management, and merchant banking, which includes the UK’s NM Rothschild & Sons.
The firm is run by Alexandre de Rothschild, the son of Baron David de Rothschild who stepped aside four years ago. Alexandre is the seventh generation of the family to lead the bank.
Concordia said that given the long-term nature of the business, it made more sense to be private, adding that the bank did not need access to capital from the public equity markets.
The Rothschild banking dynasty was founded in the 18th century by Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who started out buying and selling old coins in a Frankfurt ghetto.
In the early 1800s, he sent his five sons to establish bases of Rothschild in London, Paris, Naples, Vienna and Frankfurt.
But the roots of the current structure go back to a 2012 merger between the then separate French bank and UK merchant bank NM Rothschild & Sons.
The deal – orchestrated by Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, the former head of the British arm of the banking group, who died three months ago, and his cousin David de Rothschild, who oversaw the French arm –put an end to decades of cross-Channel rivalry.
Concordia said it is in advanced negotiations with investors to finalise the financing of the deal.
Rothschild & Co recorded revenue of £772million in the third quarter of 2022, up 30 per cent year-on-year.
Revenues in global advisory, its largest business, increased 18 per cent year-on-year to £489million during the same period.
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