On October 23, BAWAG and Amundi announced the signature of a definitive agreement to enter into a long-term strategic partnership in asset management. bpv Huegel advised BAWAG and Baker & McKenzie advised Amundi in the deal.
As part of the transaction, Amundi acquires BAWAG Invest. The transaction has been approved by the Supervisory Boards of BAWAG and Amundi and remains subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. BAWAG Invest is BAWAG’s wholly owned asset management subsidiary. BAWAG Invest has a total of EUR 4.6 billion of assets under management as of 30th June 2014, encompassing 78 retail and institutional funds for BAWAG customers. Amundi will continue to operate BAWAG Invest out of Austria and build on its existing strong franchise. BAWAG will distribute Amundi Asset Management’s fund products throughout Austria via its physical and digital multi-channel distribution capacities, including 500 branches across the country.
Byron Haynes, CEO of BAWAG, stated: “BAWAG Invest is a great business and we are proud of the role it has played in BAWAG’s history. Amundi is the right global business to carry on growing the franchise for the benefit of our customers and employees. This transaction is consistent with our strategy and enables us to partner with a world-class asset manager, continue offering the products that our customers want, and at the same time focus on what we know best - our core retail franchise.”
According to Yves Perrier, Chief Executive Officer of Amundi, “this acquisition is perfectly in line with our objective to accelerate our international development. And the long term strategic distribution partnership agreement with BAWAG, one of the major banking players in Austria with 1.6 million customers, highlights our recognized expertise as a partner of choice to provide savings solutions to the customers of banking networks.”
Deutsche Bank acted as financial advisor to BAWAG while Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to Amundi.
The bpv Huegel team working on the deal was led by Partner Thomas Lettau, who advised on corporate/M&A matters, assisted by Partners Christoph Nauer and Kornelia Wittmann, advising on regulatory and corporate/M&A and regulatory and tax matters respectively. Associates Roland Juill and Valentina Schaumburger were also part of the team.
Amundi was advised by Baker & McKenzie Banking & Finance Partner Dieter Buchberger, Corporate Partner Gerhard Hermann, and Corporate Senior Associate Wendelin Ettmayer.
