RHJ to buy Kleinwort Benson for $360m

FRANKFURT: Belgium's RHJ International is to buy UK wealth management unit Kleinwort Benson from Commerzbank for 225 million pounds ($359.5 million), the latest in a flurry of private banking sales.

The deal with RHJ, the Brussels-listed investment group that failed in its bid to buy GM's European car unit Opel last month, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2010, subject to approval by regulators.

"RHJI plans to adopt Kleinwort Benson as an overarching brand for its financial services businesses going forward," RHJI Chief Executive Leonhard Fischer, a former Dresdner Bank executive, said in a statement.