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The Rothschild family takes a historic investment bank off the stock exchange, blowing the Paris stock exchange
The Rothschild dynasty dealt a blow to the Paris stock market by deciding to delist its investment bank.
Rothschild & Co, which helped finance the Duke of Wellington’s 1815 victory at the Battle of Waterloo, has been listed on the stock exchange of the French capital since 1838 and is one of the most recognized 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 £3.4 billion.
Seventh generation: Alexandre de Rothschild, who currently runs Rothschild & Co, is the son of David de Rothschild who left four years ago
The move comes ten years after a reorganization brought the French and British companies under one roof as Rothschild & Co.
Concordia already owns 38.9 percent of the shares and 47.5 percent of the voting rights.
The bank consists of three divisions: Global Advisory, Wealth and Asset Management and Merchant Banking, which also includes the British NM Rothschild & Sons.
The company is led by Alexandre de Rothschild, the son of Baron David de Rothschild who stepped down four years ago. Alexandre is the seventh generation of the family to run the bank.
Concordia said that given the long-term nature of the company, it made more sense to go private, adding that the bank did not need access to capital from the public stock markets.
The Rothschild banking dynasty was founded in the 18th century by Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who began buying and selling old coins in a Frankfurt ghetto.
In the early 1800s, he sent his five sons to establish Rothschild bases 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 British investment bank NM Rothschild & Sons.
The deal – orchestrated by Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, the former head of the banking group’s UK arm, who died three months ago, and his cousin David de Rothschild, who oversaw the French arm – ended decades of cross-border Channel rivalry.
Concordia said it is in advanced negotiations with investors to finalize financing for the deal.
Rothschild & Co posted a turnover of £772 million in the third quarter of 2022, up 30 per cent year-on-year.
Revenues from Global Advisory, the firm’s largest business, rose 18 per cent year-on-year to £489 million over the same period.