Robeco Bank Bought By Kaupthing Bank Luxembourg S.A.

Private banking and alternative asset manager Robeco Bank of Belgium was purchased by Kaupthing Bank of Luxembourg, it was announced today.

Robeco was established in Rotterdam in 1929, and has EUR 142 billion ($201.5 billion) in assets under management (as of 31 December 2006). Their product range runs from equity and fixed-income investments, to money-market and real-estate funds and alternative investments, such as private equity, hedge funds and structured products.

George Möller, Chief Excecutive Officer of Robeco said, "The Belgian market has evolved enormously over these last years with most banks now operating an `open architecture´. They are increasingly incorporating the financial products of other specialist banks -including Robeco-. This opening up enables us to focus on third party distribution and on the institutional market in Belgium."

Magnus Gudmundsson, Managing Director of Kaupthing Bank Luxembourg said, "Robeco Bank Belgium represents an excellent strategic fit forKaupthing Bank in terms of geographic diversification, products and business culture. This acquisition is a logical step in building up Private Banking offerings in the Benelux countries. By taking over the activities of Robeco Bank Belgium we become immediately operational in Belgium and will have a platform for further growth".

Robeco has offices in Bahrain, Belgium, Germany, France, Japan, Luxembourg, Poland, Spain, the United States and Switzerland. Robeco has a bank license in Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

Thomson Financial Invests $180 Million in TradeWeb

Thomson Financial today announced it plans to form a strategic partnership with nine of the world's leading global dealers including, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and UBS to drive the expansion of electronic trading using the TradeWeb platform.

Under the terms of the agreement, the dealers will invest approximately $180 million to purchase a minority stake in TradeWeb's established markets. Separately, Thomson and the dealers will fund additional investment in asset class expansion.

"This partnership is a natural step forward in the evolution of the online financial marketplace, taking us closer to the time when almost all trading is electronic," said Jim Toffey, CEO of Thomson TradeWeb. "TradeWeb is ideally positioned to seize this opportunity, and expand e-trading for our clients on one platform through organic growth and through acquisition. The end-game is to be the leading global network where markets meet."

The transaction is expected to close in the next few months, pending regulatory approval. TradeWeb will maintain its global headquarters in Jersey City, NJ. Average daily trading volume on TradeWeb exceeds $250 billion.


Thomson TradeWeb is the leading online fixed-income trading network with over 12 million trades executed and total volume surpassing $200 trillion since its inception in 1998.