Sal Oppenheim's German-based derivatives business will celebrate its acquisition by Australian Macquarie with a focus on Asian investments, Mark Gilbert, head of derivatives for Europe, Middle East and Africa, told weltonline.de. "We have gained a good position over there and want to bring this expertise to Europe," he said. While the bank confirmed that Sal Oppenheim/Macquarie will soon base a substantial part of its product output on Asian indices and equities, the new head of equity trading and derivatives, Frank Langer, could not give more details. "Whether we start in April with warrants or discounts certificates cannot be confirmed yet," he said.
Macquarie finalised its purchase last December and is taking over 100 employees, a number it plans to double within the next two years, according to Gilbert. The transaction should be finalised by 1 April and the business will be renamed Macquarie Oppenheim.
Macquarie does not have the benefit of Sal Oppenheim's private banking clients, which were acquired in a separate deal by Deutsche Bank. However, it said it does not foresee distribution problems. "Just 10-15% of derivatives [so far] have been bought by private wealth management clients at Sal Oppenheim," said Gilbert. The bank is in talks with distribution networks such as Sparkassen, among others. Due to its ongoing restructuring, Oppenheim's private customer market share has fallen from 7% to 2% in Germany, but it aims to regain its market position. It has about 10,000 live certificates and warrants on the market.