The Rothschild family has decided to take its bank private, thereby ending decades of public enterprise for one of the biggest names in global banking. Shares in the company rose 17% to €46.90 on Monday morning following the announcement.
In a deal worth about €3.7 billion ($4 billion), the Rothschild family’s holding company Concordia is set to file a tender offer for the company’s shares at €48 apiece. Currently, the holding company owns 38.9% of the firm’s shares and holds 47.5% of the voting rights.
“None of the businesses of the group needs access to capital from the public equity markets,” Concordia explained in a public statement. “Furthermore, each of the businesses is better assessed on the basis of their long-term performance rather than short-term earnings. This makes private ownership of the group more appropriate than a public listing.”
This decision follows the death of Evelyn de Rothschild, the former head of the British arm of the banking group, three months ago. Together with his cousin and head of the French arm of the company David de Rothschild, Evelyn oversaw the unification of the two branches in an effort to compete with younger and larger multinational banks. The new head of the unified Rothschild & Co is Alexandre de Rothschild.