American private equity firm Warburg Pincus has agreed to purchase Raiffeisen Switzerland’s 10% stake in Swiss banking technology provider Avaloq.
The deal, whose terms were not disclosed, will increase Warburg Pincus’ stake in Avaloq to 45%.
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The majority stake will be owned by Avaloq employees, management, board of directors and group CEO, chairman of the board and founder Francisco Fernandez.
At the same time, Avaloq signed an agreement in principle to acquire the remaining 51% stake in Arizon, its joint venture with Raiffeisen. Arizon was set up in 2014 to develop a universal banking platform and offer processing services for the Raiffeisen Group.
The stake purchase in Arizon will offer Avaloq sole ownership of Arizon and make Arizon its wholly-owned subsidiary.
Avaloq said that the deal will not result in redundancies and the existing management will be retained.
In addition, Arizon will also sign a service agreement with Raiffeisen through the end of 2024 for development of the banking platform. Avaloq said that 255 Raiffeisen banks in Switzerland will be moved to the new platform.
Avaloq group CEO and chairman of the board Francisco Fernandez said: “We are delighted to take our partnership with Raiffeisen to the next level and continue to support them for the long term with our banking technology and services.
“We are equally pleased to assume full ownership of ARIZON, which has proven its retail banking expertise in an impressing manner under the leadership of CEO Mathias Schutz, and we look forward to further advancing the platform.”
