On Monday, the Rothschild family’s holding company, Concordia, announced the famous banking dynasty plans to take its namesake financial services group, one of the most prestigious investment banks in the world, Rothschild & Co, private.

In its statement, the family noted that it viewed Rothschild & Co being held privately as “more appropriate than a public listing.”

Concordia stated, “None of the businesses of the group needs access to capital from the public equity markets. Furthermore, each of the businesses is better assessed on the basis of their long-term performance rather than short-term earnings.”

As the largest shareholder in Rothschild & Co with 38.9% of shares and 47.5% of the voting rights, Condordia said it will make a tender offer for the remaining shares of the bank at €48 each. That will be a premium of 19% of the previous closing price of the bank, which was €40.25. According to Bloomberg estimations, it would value the group at roughly €3.7 billion ($4 billion).

The private ownership plan will be submitted to shareholders by Concordia on May 25th. at its annual general meeting. The official filing of the offer is expected to be made by the end of the first half of 2023.

Shares of the bank soared 17% on news of the proposed buyout, according to trading data.

Currently listed in Paris, Rothschild & Co is a multinational investment bank, as well as one of the largest independent financial advisory companies in the world. Consisting of three divisions, a global advisory division, a wealth and asset management division, and a merchant banking division, the bank’s current structure dates all the way back to 2012, when it merged its French and UK branches into a single operation.

The bank is often working on the sidelines of big deals, most notably last year taking part in Volkswagen’s IPO of Porsche and German energy giant Uniper’s nationalization amid the gas crisis produced by Western sanctions laid on Russia.

Photo of Rothschild Bank courtesy of Adrian Ross