Julius Baer to list Artio
JULIUS BAER, the Swiss bank for wealthy investors, has started the ball rolling on a market listing of its US-based asset management arm Artio, in a move that could raise it as much as $570m (£344m).
The firm is set to cash in on higher equity markets by selling 23.4m shares in an initial public offering of the arm. Proceeds from Artio, whose offering is to be complete by 30 September, could be timely as Baer is considering buying ING’s Asian and Swiss private banking arms.
Vontobel analyst Tobias Bruetsch estimated Artio’s market value at between $1.25 and $1.65bn and said Baer could raise as much as $570m in cash from the share listing. Baer’s holding in Artio would be halved to 35 per cent.
Artio founders Richard Pell and Rudolph-Riad Younes will sell 13 per cent of their 30 per cent holdings, leaving them with a 26 per cent stake, meaning 39 per cent of Artio will be quoted on the US market.