Kleinwort Benson considers management buyout

Private bank Kleinwort Benson is reportedly considering a management buyout more than 150 years after it was founded.

A trade sale will also be considered, but Robert Taylor, chief executive officer of Kleinwort, has said that there will not be a fire-sale.

The bank is one of the assets that Commerzbank must sell as a condition of taking £16.3bn of state aid from the German goverment. The European Commission has given Commerzbank until 2011 to sell the business.

The London bank manages approximately £7bn, with £22.2bn under administration. Last year, Kleinwort's turnover reached the highest level of its 150-year history at £95m.

The bank is expected to attract attention from private equity firms that are looking to buy companies that have been dramatically undervalued as a result of the current economic downturn.

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