The Work
December 2, 2008 5:21 PM
Weil, Clifford Chance, Swiss Firms Helping AIG Spinoff Private Banking Unit
Posted by Brian Baxter
Perhaps seeking to offset some of the $152 billion it now owes the federal government, New York-based insurance giant American International Group announced on Monday that it was selling its private banking subsidiary to Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments for $254 million.
The Am Law Daily has learned that Weil, Gotshal & Manges has secured a leading role advising AIG on the sale of the wealth management unit along with Lenz & Staehelin, Switzerland's largest law firm.
The agreement will see AIG Private Bank, with roughly $8.3 billion in assets under management, become an independent bank based in Switzerland with offices in Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Singapore.
The team from Weil providing U.S. counsel is being led by London-based M&A partner Peter King, according to sources close to the deal. (Weil was retained by AIG in September for a possible bankruptcy filing before it was bailed out by U.S. taxpayers.) Zurich-based M&A partners Rudolf Tschaeni and Matthias Wolf and associate Kuno Sutter from Lenz & Staehelin are serving as Swiss counsel to AIG.
Aabar is being advised by a team of lawyers from Clifford Chance and Switzerland's Baer & Karrer. Both firms declined to identify the names of lawyers advising on the transaction.
The closing price of the transaction remains subject to adjustment as Aabar will assume up to $83 million in loans as part of the deal. Final approval is also required by the Swiss Federal Banking Commission.
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