AnaCap buys Barclays France, plans wealth manager launch

Barclays is to sell its French retail banking operations, life insurance business, and wealth and investment management operations to European financial services private equity firm AnaCap Financial Partners.

AnaCap buys Barclays France, plans wealth manager launch

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Following and subject to completion, AnaCap intends to leverage Barclays’ client base, network and relationship managers to build “the leading independent wealth manager in France”.

With €7bn (£5.9bn, $7.4bn) of assets under management and around 140,000 clients, Barclays French operations already have meaningful scale and are ready for the next phase of development, AnaCap said in its statement.

The retail banking and wealth business operations are focused on the affluent segment, and face a large and rapidly growing addressable market totalling some €3.5trn of assets, with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4% through to 2020.

The acquisition marks the firm’s second French investment, following the buyout of AssurOne Group, a digital insurance broker, in 2014.

Nassim Cherchali, director of AnaCap, commented: “We are delighted to have signed this agreement to acquire Barclays France, following an extensive consultation process. This is an extremely attractive platform with huge potential for growth, which benefits from a unique combination of distribution and manufacturing capabilities, a strong branch network and vastly experienced relationship managers across the country.

“We look forward to working with the management team to create the leading wealth manager for the affluent sector in France.”