LGT wins bid to buy ABN Amro Asia wealth management business

ABN Amro has selected LGT Bank as the buyer of its Asian wealth management business, an internal source has told AsianInvestor.

The Dutch bank will be making an announcement about the sale to LGT in a town hall meeting this afternoon, the source added. The M&A advisory firm on the deal is Lazard.

No details were provided in terms of sale price and the reasons for choosing LGT over Swiss firm Julius Baer and Singapore's DBS. The three banks were reported to be vying for ABN Amro’s private banking business in Asia in October. DBS was thought likely to have dropped out of the race after it announced its acquisition of ANZ’s retail banking business in selected markets in Asia.

An inside source told AsianInvestor that there were champagne and LGT marketing brochures ready to be unpacked in ABN Amro’s mail room in both Hong Kong and Singapore.

ABN Amro's head of communications in Asia would not confirm or deny the information when asked by AsianInvestor.

ABN Amro has $19 billion of assets under management in the region. LGT is a family-owned private bank run by the Princely Family of Liechtenstein and had $25 billion in Asia AUM as of end-2015.