LLB agrees to sell swisspartners stake to its active partners
(Reuters) – Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) said on Friday it is selling its majority shareholding in swisspartners to the Swiss asset manager’s active partners, as the Liechtenstein bank focuses on its core business.
The pair did not disclose a price for the sale but LBB said in a statement it will have a positive effect on its 2015 net profit of around 9 million Swiss francs ($9.14 million).
Vaduz-based LLB also said its assets under management would decline by about 3 billion francs because of the sale.
“The sale of our stake in swisspartners marks a further milestone in the implementation of our strategic initiatives,” LLB Chief Executive Roland Matt said in a statement. “It is an expression of our consistent focus on our core business.”
LLB said it would continue to work closely with swisspartners in future.
In May, swisspartners agreed to pay $4.4 million to the United States to settle a probe into whether it helped U.S. taxpayers evade their federal income taxes.
From about 2001 to about 2011, according to a Justice Department statement at the time, the asset manager helped its U.S. clients open and maintain undeclared foreign bank accounts, which allowed them to avoid paying taxes in full.
($1 = 0.9851 Swiss francs) (Reporting By Joshua Franklin, editing by William Hardy)
