EXCLUSIVE - between the two branches of this financial dynasty, there is now talk through a lawyer. An invaluable asset is at stake: his surname. Decryption.
A bomb. The Edmond de Rothschild Group will sue the Paris branch, David de Rothschild, accused of 'pre-empt' the famous family -patronyme.
This is the first stunt Ariane de Rothschild, became President of the Executive Committee of the Edmond de Rothschild Group on 31 January. A recovery in family hands after the start of an external manager, Christophe de Backer. And the first time a woman runs a bank of the dynasty.
Benjamin's wife de Rothschild, son of Edmond, pilot his group from the shores of Lake Geneva, the nerve center for three generations. Far from the Avenue of Messina, the Paris headquarters of Rothschild & Cie, headed by David de Rothschild cousin and whose side holding, Paris Orleans, defines itself in its financial presentation as "parent Rothschild Group". The drop of water too.
Impairment misperceived
A first incident, a priori trivial, revealed the tension -régnait between houses. It is necessary to know that the two groups are cross 8% stake; Remember the boost given by Edmond de Rothschild when the young David went up a bank in Paris, after the nationalization of 1982. Since then, each year, accounting rules require to evaluate these investments. A mere formality.
But in late 2013, while Paris starts to rustle the depreciation of € 22 million spent by David because of bad business of his cousin Benjamin and his manager Christophe de Backer. The latter then breaks the silence. In the columns of the World, he speaks of "low blow". What will make a great noise. One year later, on both sides is minimized. And it emphasizes the "courteous distance" between institutions. Each home.
"Concordia, Integritas, Industria" Benjamin and David de Rothschild defend their common currency. To do good business, it is of course to be honest; but do not chip family harmony. Both men are somehow too different to compete. Aside from common ancestors, and some features of the family- elegance, blue eyes, penchant for philanthropy - they share little.
At 72, David de Rothschild reign with courtesy on mergers and acquisitions. Its "boutique" of the 1980s, he made a European empire financial advice. Benjamin de Rothschild, 51, weighs at least ten times more than his cousin with a fortune estimated by Challenges to 2.9 billion euros. Billionaire extraordinary, he plays with codes and can let his staff meeting last Christmas drink that "all those who left the group are enc ...".
Each character and each territory. The private Swiss bank side, the investment bank French side. But over the years, the two groups, however, made some inroads into the preserve of the other. Rothschild & Cie has developed management activities, while Edmond de -Rothschild maintains a small team of mergers and acquisitions and moved to the City, David's conquest of Earth Rothschild. This has in turn sought an adventure in Israel preserve of Benjamin.
Old grudges
Sign of the deterioration of relations, Rothschild & Cie has no administrator at Benjamin de Rothschild; which itself has not managed to get a seat at David. For deaf litigation divides the two groups. Off the record, on balance. Old jealousies?
As in all families, the Rothschilds carry around resentment. The younger branch, which resulted in Benjamin would feed an old complex with respect to the elder branch, that of David. And marriages would have helped. David de Rothschild married a perfect Italian aristocrat, while Edmund and his son Benjamin married commoners.
But near the two men swept the analysis: "David and Benjamin are well above that. The stakes are elsewhere. »
Elsewhere? We must therefore look towards the most valuable assets of the -dynastie: his surname. In Paris, Rothschild -David battled to get his name after the nationalization of the family bank. It was not until the arrival in power of Edouard Balladur for him to earn the right to use this magic name. We also had to agree with the younger branch.
Failure of mediation
By contract, each bank can be called Rothschild, provided they do not carry the name alone. Preceded by the name Edmond (carried by his father and great-grandfather) in Benjamin de Rothschild, is followed in the establishment founded by -David, the reference "& Cie". Thirty years later, discussions between the two families on the use of the mark were reopened.
But mediation failed. One of the objectives of Christophe de Backer, former HSBC, was to streamline the sign of his bank to facilitate its international expansion. But David preempted Rothschild Group, which nevertheless sounded good. The current battle is fought by the Queen of the heart of this chess game: Ariane de Rothschild, assisted by its General Secretary, Olivier Colom, a former diplomat.
Hosted by the duty to pass on to his four daughters a healthy and sustainable group, Benjamin's wife wants guarantees. What type? "The key to all this is the transmission. The great fear of Ariadne is that David's heirs ever be tempted to sell "decodes a lawyer.
Capital of shadows game
In an interview in May 2014 with his wife Point, Benjamin was also dropped: "We would like to especially avoid one day they sell their company with the name Rothschild. "A pretty stone in the garden cousins," who do not have the right to monopolize the name. " And the son of Edmond perspective the ongoing bickering: "For three generations there was friction between the different branches of the family. »
True, but rarely at this point. The concern of Rothschild Geneva -repose on one fact: the capital position of the Edmond de Rothschild Group is simpler than that of the bank's cousin. Benjamin is the sole heir to a lineage that had the good taste to generate, in every generation, an only son. It is rich and his own master.
The side of David, the situation is more collegial. In 2008, the bank was able to reunite two hundred years after their separation, the English and French branches. A master stroke.
But his son Alexander, its successor, will own a share of the capital alongside Eric de Rothschild, his cousin, and heirs of the English branch, the son of Evelyn. The heir must also reckon with the appetites of the managing partners who bring business.
A game of shadows to the delight of an officer of the historical competitor Lazard: "The acute crisis of succession that we have finally emerged after many years is looming at Rothschild ..." His comments "insane" t judge -on the side of Rothschild & Cie.