Global bank BNP Paribas has acquired the wealth management and insurance activities of ABN AMRO in Luxembourg. International law firm Clifford Chance has advised BNP Paribas on this major European banking transaction.

In the course of the transaction, the Luxembourg arm of BNP Paribas, BGL BNP Paribas, acquires all of the shares in the Luxembourg private bank ABN AMRO Bank (Luxembourg) S.A. and its insurance subsidiary ABN AMRO Life S.A.

With the acquisition of ABN AMRO, BGL BNP Paribas reinforces the key positions that the BNP Paribas group in Luxembourg holds in the wealth management and insurance market.

Advising BNP Paribas on this transaction, Clifford Chance has assisted clients in all recent major European banking deals. With its corporate team specializing in the banking sector, the firm in 2017 advised BKB Bremer Kreditbank on its majority acquisition of OLB Oldenburgische Landesbank and the parallel tender offer to its minority shareholders, as well as Precision Capital on the sale of BIL Banque Internationale à Luxembourg to Legend Holdings – the largest acquisition of a European deposit taking institution by a Chinese company so far.

The international team of Clifford Chance, which advised BNP Paribas on this transaction, was led from Germany and comprised the banking transaction specialists partner Thomas Krecek, counsel Stefan Bruder, associate Corinna Rogmann, senior transaction lawyer Ömer Cilingir and transaction lawyer Rouven Reuter (all Corporate /M&A, Frankfurt); from the Luxembourg office partner Katia Gauzès, partner Christian Kremer, counsel Dunja Pralong-Damjanovic, associates Louis Mamère and Florès Jiang (all Corporate/M&A), senior associates Michael Wildscheck and Constantin Iscru, associate Ewa Baginska (all Banking/Finance), counsel Isabelle Comhaire and associate Camille Tulasne (both Litigation), senior associate Oliver Zwick (Investment Funds), counsel Sébastien Schmitz and associate Elisabeth Lauwerier (both Real Estate); from Brussels partner Lounia Czupper and associate Sophie Delwaide (both Real Estate/Finance); from Milan partner Lucio Bonavitacola and senior associate Alberto Claretta Assandri (both Finance) and from Paris partner Katrin Schallenberg, associate Sara Ortoli (both Antitrust), partner Frédérick Lacroix and associate Guillaume Fort (both Banking/Finance).

Inhouse at BNP Paribas, Sophie Andribet (M&A Legal Counsel), Maarten van Beusekom (Global Head of Legal at BNP Paribas Wealth Management) and team provided legal and organizational advice to the transaction.

Clifford Chance is a leading legal consultant on complex transactions and projects worldwide, especially in highly regulated sectors such as finance, energy and TMT (telecom, media, technology), and regularly achieves top rankings in international deal rankings. Recently the firm was awarded "M&A Law Firm of the Year 2017-18" and "Law Firm of the Year 2017-18" in Germany.