Rothschild & Co., whose predecessors helped finance the Duke of Wellington’s victory over Napoleon in 1815 at the battle of Waterloo, announced Monday that its main shareholder plans a tender offer valuing the firm at about €3.7 billion .
The Paris-based firm generates the majority of its revenue from providing financial advisory, though it also has a wealth and asset management unit as well as merchant banking business. Led by Alexandre de Rothschild since 2018, the bank has been expanding in the US and managed to sidestep much of the slump in the market for deal advisory, ranking 6th by the number of mergers and acquisitions last year.
The going-private plan comes three months after Evelyn de Rothschild, the former head of the British arm of the banking group, died at age 91. Evelyn and his cousin David de Rothschild, who oversaw the French arm, united the two branches in a move that was seen as a key step in remaining competitive. David took managerial control of the U.K. side of the business in 2004 after his cousin Evelyn retired.
Rothschild & Co. said it plans to offer a €1.4 dividend to shareholders at its next annual general meeting on May 25. The firm will also propose a €8 exceptional dividend, should Concordia decide to file its offer. The price of the offer would be adjusted downwards by those amounts.