The €1 billion  purchase price was paid in cash. It excluded  BHF Asset Servicing which is being sold to a US firm, Deutsche Bank said in a statement.

Deutsche first announced the acquisition of the private bank and investment firm in October last year. Earlier this year, the European Commission, which acts as a regulator for mergers and acquisitions with a European dimension, gave the acquisition the go-ahead. Other supervisory authorities followed the Commission’s decision.

Deutsche said Sal Oppenheim’s independent wealth management activities will be expanded and remain under the well-established and prestigious brand name. The new owner will also try to preserve the private banking character of Sal Oppenheim.

"Sal Oppenheim is well-positioned to serve its private and institutional clients as an independently operating bank. And it should stay that way,” said Pierre de Weck, who is head of private wealth management at Deutsche and also on the bank’s group executive committee.

“At the same time, we intend to grow further with Sal Oppenheim and leverage its great potential to build on our market-leading position in wealth management," Mr de Weck added.

Following the completing of the acquisition, there will be changes to the management of the private bank. The most senior appointment, which is expected to be officially announced in due course, is that of Mr de Weck to the position of chairman of the supervisory board.

In addition, Jürgen Dobritzsch and Jürgen Fiedler will join the management board with immediate effect. They will be added to François Pauly and Dr Wolfgang Leoni who are already on the board, and Wilhelm von Haller, the board’s chairman.

Mr Dobritzsch will take up the role of chief financial officer, while Mr Fiedler will take on the responsibility for risk management as chief risk officer. Both have previously held executive management positions at Deutsche Bank for several years.

“We are very pleased that our independence is also ensured under the new ownership. This enables our bank to emerge from this period of transition with new strength,” said Mr von Haller.

“Our top priority remains independent personal advisory services tailored to our private and institutional clients’ financial needs,” Mr von Haller added.

Sal Oppenheim said in a statement that its new business model will be based on three pillars: asset management for private clients, institutional asset management and fund business for private and institutional investors.

“Sal Oppenheim will continue to provide an independent market assessment in the future as well. Our aim is to continue to convince clients with our expert solutions and above-average performance, while strictly controlling risks,” Dr Leoni said.

There has been much speculation about what will happen to BHF Bank, the Frankfurt-based private bank which is part of Sal Oppenheim. Deutsche said that, for the time being, BHF Bank will be managed as a stand-alone unit, and Deutsche will investigate further strategic options.

There has been a reported interested in BHF Bank by several wealth managers, including LGT Group of Liechtenstein and Bank Sarasin of Switzerland.

The agreed sale of BHF Asset Servicing to BNY Mellon is expected to close in the third quarter of 2010.

Sal Oppenheim’s investment banking activities will be discontinued, Deutsche confirmed. This had been expected and had already been reported by WealthBriefing earlier this month.

At the end of the year 2009, Sal Oppenheim Group’s assets under management totalled at €137 billion.