Swiss bank in talks on £150m bid for Laing & Cruickshank

Laing & Cruickshank, a broker for well-heeled private clients, is in talks with UBS about a possible takeover by the Swiss bank which would value the 122-year-old company at about £150m.

UBS, which runs the world's largest private client asset management business, has been building an arm organically in the UK but is keen to bolster it with an acquisition.

Talks between the two are at an early stage, with Laing & Cruickshank yet to appoint advisers. However, its current parent, French bank Crédit Lyonnais, is thought to want to sell the business as it has decided it does not fit in with its future strategy. If UBS were to pay in the region of £150m, it would be the equivalent of almost 3 per cent of funds under management - a generous valuation for an asset manager.

Crédit Lyonnais bought Laing & Cruickshank in 1987 for £75m from Mercantile House, a financial conglomerate that was broken up by British & Commonwealth. B&C only wanted Oppenheimer, the investment-management arm, selling on the then Alexanders, Laing & Cruickshank Holdings.

At the time, Crédit Lyonnais's deal was meant to provide a way for the French bank to boost its position in London and Laing & Cruickshank, which is headed by the colourful merchant banker Michael Kerr-Dineen, has fitted well into the culture of the bank. However, Crédit Lyonnais joined forces with rival Crédit Agricole last year. The €19.5bn (£13.11bn) deal created France's largest retail bank and building on that franchise is where the group is keen to devote its energies.

Neither UBS nor Laing & Cruickshank would comment. Any deal would have to be supported by partners in Laing & Cruickshank, who own 25 per cent of the business. UBS has 164 offices world-wide. It made a push into Europe and Britain in 2001, and has been eyeing Laing & Cruickshank in its drive to increase market share.

The City expects an increasing number of mergers between brokerages this year. Many have been put up for sale and renewed confidence in the stock market has made a number of would-be consolidators keen to press ahead. The investment bank Lazard bought Panmure Gordon from WestLB and Numis has been eyed by Jefferies & Co.

News of the possible tie-up between UBS and Laing & Cruickshank will end years of speculation over the future of one of the City's oldest stockbroking firms. Rumours of an impending sale started three years ago when it was thought that Lehman Brothers had been appointed to sell the business for about £200m. This was denied by the bank at the time.