Norton Rose Fulbright advised CACEIS banking group, which belongs to Crédit Agricole, on the takeover of Sal. Oppenheim’s asset depositary activities for real estate and other physical assets in Germany. All concerned funds with a total volume of €12bn shall be migrated to the new custodian CACEIS by the end of 2014.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised CACEIS Bank Deutschland on corporate law issues for many years on an ongoing basis and can look back on successful cooperation in the context of various structurings and projects.

CACEIS is one of the world’s leading asset servicing providers dedicated to institutional and corporate clients. CACEIS is also one of the largest depositary banks and the premier fund administrator in Europe. With this step, CACEIS strengthens its market position as the premier third-party physical asset depositary in Germany and at the same time supports its growth targets in this sector.

With the transfer of its depository activities, private bank Sal. Oppenheim – which has been part of Deutsche Bank Group since 2009 – consistently pursues the realignment of the bank and its strategic initiative to focus on its core business strengths such as asset management for private and institutional clients.

The Norton Rose Fulbright team involved in the transaction comprised the following lawyers:

Partner: Alexander von Bergwelt (corporate/M&A, Munich), Katrin Scheicht (employment, Munich), Caroline Herkströter (banking regulatory, Frankfurt).

Of counsel: Katrin Stieß (corporate/M&A, Munich) and Markus Krismanek (banking regulatory, Frankfurt).