The European Central Bank and German banking watchdog Bafin have given a green light to China’s Fosun International for its planned takeover of German private bank Hauck & Aufhaeuser, two sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday.
The two companies announced in July last year that Fosun had agreed to buy Hauck & Aufhaeuser for up to 210 million euros ($234.63 million).
However, banking supervisors took extra time with the approval process to ask Fosun for details about an incident in which its shares were suspended after the company lost contact with its billionaire founder Guo Guangchang, a person familiar with the regulatory process said late last year.
Bafin had said in May it had received all the necessary documents from Fosun to examine the takeover, giving itself 60 working days to complete a review.
Bafin, the ECB, and Fosun all declined to comment on Thursday on the approval, which was also reported by financial daily Handelsblatt.
The two sources familiar with the situation said the deal still needed the nod from financial supervisors in Luxembourg.
The ECB and Bafin checks had been seen as the major hurdle, however. ($1 = 0.8950 euros) (Reporting by Alexander Hueber, writing by Jonathan Gould, editing by David Evans).
