Family Office
AIG agrees to sell its Zurich-based private bank
Bank to get a new name, keep its management, increase focus on
Gulf region. Troubled U.S. insurer AIG has agreed to sell its
Zurich-based Private Bank to Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments
for about $254 million -- a figure that's subject to adjustment
based on the net asset value and assets under management of the
bank when the deal closes -- probably within a few months. Aabar,
a firm with investments in everything from oil rigs to real
estate, will also assume AIG Private Bank's debt obligations up
to $83 million.
Whatever that means
"We have looked very thoroughly at AIG Private Bank and are
impressed by the professionalism and dedication of the management
team and staff," says Aabar's chairman Khadem Al Qubaisi. "This
transaction represents a great opportunity to leverage AIG
Private Bank's expertise in wealth management and to further
develop it in our region."
Under Aabar, AIG Private Bank will retain its base in Zurich and
keep its management team under CEO Eduardo Leemann but operate
under a new -- and as yet undetermined -- name. The bank has
offshore offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Dubai.
Perhaps new ownership will give AIG Private Bank a new motto to
go with its new name. Right now the bank's slogan is "The
Swissmopolitan Way."
Leeman says the deal with Aabar "sends a clear message to our
customers that we will continue to be a trustworthy, reliable and
competent partner for them [and it] offers us new opportunities
to expand our operations, especially in the Middle East."
The sale of its Swiss private bank stands to put presumably
much-needed capital in AIG's coffers. In September the New
York-based company received an $85-billion line of credit with
the Federal Reserve in the face of a downgrade of its bond rating
(stemming from its exposure to devalued credit default
instruments) that obliged it to have more ready cash on hand for
conducting day-to-day business.
Within a few weeks of that AIG received additional help from
the Fed when the New York Federal Reserve Bank provided it with a
$38-billion securities lending facility. Last month the U.S.
Treasury said it would buy $40 billion of AIG's newly issued
preferred stock. -FWR
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