LONDON â€" The Swiss bank Julius Baer agreed on Monday to buy about 20 percent of the Italian money manager Kairos Investment Management for an undisclosed fee.
The deal comes a month after Julius Baer announced about 1,000 job cuts after its deal with Bank of America Merrill Lynch to buy that bank's private banking operations outside the United States and Japan for around $880 million.
Under the terms of the deal with Kairos, Julius Baer will acquire a 19.9 percent stake in the firm, which has about 4.5 billion euros ($5.7 billion) of assets under management. Julius Baer currently manages assets worth 184 billion Swiss francs ($194 billion).
Julius Baer said its private client business in Italy would be combined with Kairos's existing business, adding that the two firms would set up a new private bank in Italy after receiving regulatory approval for the deal.
The combined wealth management division in Italy will be operated under the name Kairos Ju lius Baer, according to a company statement.
“Thanks to our strategic participation, we will increase our presence in the domestic Italian wealth management market,†Julius Baer's chief executive, Boris F.J. Collardi, said in a statement. “This move underlines our commitment to further grow and develop our business in Italy.â€
The two firms said they would decide after a few years whether Julius Baer would increase its stake in Kairos, according to a statement from Julius Baer.
Shares in Julius Baer rose less than 1 percent in morning trading in Zurich on Monday.
The deal is expected to close during the first half of 2013.
