Nice remark about the deal from the Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f926c426-99b2-11de-ab8c-00144feabdc0.html : "The sale of Fortis Intertrust......... will come as a relief to the Dutch government, which had become uncomfortable owning a business dedicated to helping companies and rich individuals pay as little tax as possible, often using offshore vehicles." The writer further goes on: "A growing assault on the world's tax havens from US and European governments prompted several international private equity groups to withdraw from bidding because of concerns about the impact of a crackdown on the company." Ouch!
Fortis have about 150 people in their offices in HK and Singapore so they are a fairly large group. Rarely does new management affect the staff so most people can breath a sigh of relief.....but senior management is usually in for shake-up. Did you headhunters hear that?
Looking to expand? Looking to dump off toxic assets? Who else is for sale??
Equity Trust, another fairly large Asian player, was mentioned in the FT article.
What's up with LGT's Asian trust business. I was certain that it would have been sold or closed down after the Prince sold off its Swiss and Liechenstein trust operations.........can't imagine price being an issue on a fire sale. May be just too much dirt under the carpet to sweep away eh?
No comments:
Post a Comment