AssetOne Bank is one of Asia’s largest financial institutions,
but it had difficulty entering the personal investment
business where several other companies dominate the
market. To gain entry to this market, AssetOne decided to
acquire TaurusBank, a much smaller financial institution
that had aggressively developed investment funds (unit
trusts) and online banking in the region. Taurus was owned
by a European conglomerate that wanted to get out of the
financial sector, so the company was quietly put up for sale.
The opportunity to acquire Taurus seemed like a perfect fit
to AssetOne’s executives, who saw the purchase as an
opportunity to finally gain a competitive position in the
personal investment market. In particular, the acquisition
would give AssetOne valuable talent in online banking and
investment fund businesses