Rabobank has completed the sale of its subsidiary Robeco to Japan's Orix Group, which is paying €1,94bn for the Rotterdam-based fund manager.
Rabobank will retain a 9.99% share in Robeco and will continue to cooperate in maintaining and expanding Robeco's business platform. Orix will allocate treasury stock to Rabobank as part of the acquisition price, with Rabobank becoming a shareholder of Orix as a result.
Bert Bruggink, Rabobank's chief told NOS Radio 1 that negotiations had started last summer.
"There was a lot of interest in Robeco. Orix is well known in Japan and also quite well known in the United States, but much lesser known in Europe," he said. "By using the Rabobank name they can rapidly increase brand awareness over here."
Robeco's banking activities, which are based only in The Netherlands, will be transferred to Rabobank with Robeco retaining its client service relations.
Rabobank will continue to distribute Robeco's funds.
SRP data shows that in The Netherlands, Robeco has 26 live structured funds with an estimated value of €864m while Rabobank has 75 live structured products with an estimated value of €4,5bn.
Meanwhile, Rabobank's AEX Click Note 2005-2013 which matured last week, provided a capital return of 150%, or 5.2% per annum. The note breached its highest click-level which was set at 150% on 9 July 2007, when the AEX closed at 557.43 points, thus guaranteeing a minimum return of 150%.