(Bloomberg) -- Hellman & Friedman is close to a deal to buy Allfunds Bank SA after beating out offers from rival private equity bidders, people familiar with the matter said.
The agreement could be announced as soon as this week, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. Hellman & Friedman beat out a last-minute counterbid from Permira, the people said. The transaction values Allfunds at about 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion), they said.
Allfunds is owned by Banco Santander SA, Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic, which jointly control 50 percent, and Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, which holds the rest. Representatives for Hellman & Friedman, Warburg, General Atlantic, Intesa, Santander and Permira declined to comment.
Santander created Allfunds in 2000 to help financial institutions get access to open architecture funds, and Italian lender Intesa acquired a stake a few years later as part of Allfunds' international expansion.
The platform is one of the top distributors of mutual funds and provides wealth managers with access to funds that will meet clients' needs, according to the company's website. The company has more than 250 billion euros in assets under intermediation, it said.
--With assistance from Macarena Munoz and Sonia Sirletti
To contact the reporters on this story: Sarah Syed in London at ssyed35@bloomberg.net, Ruth David in London at rdavid9@bloomberg.net, Chiara Albanese in Rome at calbanese10@bloomberg.net, Manuel Baigorri in London at mbaigorri@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Aaron Kirchfeld at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net, Amy Thomson, Elizabeth Wollman
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