No official word on whether the Rothschilds' new metals exchange the HKMEx (through the En+ Group) will be part of the merger.
Consolidation of power is the name of the game.
The Rothschild family plans to merge its French and U.K. banks into one company to tighten control over the assets before an eventual succession of the group’s chief, David de Rothschild.
Rothschild & Cie Banque, the company that holds the French assets of the family such as the eponymous Paris-based mergers and acquisitions bank, and Rothschilds Continuation Holdings AG, which holds assets including London-based bank N.M. Rothschild & Sons Ltd., will be combined under French-traded Paris Orleans et Cie. SA, it said in an e-mailed statement last night. Paris Orleans will change its legal structure to a limited partnership to give the family control over the long term, it said.
“This will enable us to address the requirements of a globalized and competitive world while securing control of the family over the group,” David de Rothschild, 69, who oversees the whole firm, said in the statement.
The decision is part of a unification process between the two branches of the family that started when David de Rothschild took managerial control of the U.K. side of the bank after his cousin Evelyn de Rothschild retired in 2004. While David is the first French national to run the English half, the ownership of the investment bank has remained split between the two families. The plan simplifies the ownership of the banking operations worldwide and will help integrate the teams further.
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