US-based investment firm Ripplewood Advisors LLC is considering a bid for the digital banking arm of Orange SA, people familiar with the talks said, as the French telecom carrier’s search for a partner reaches its final stage.
(Bloomberg) — US-based investment firm Ripplewood Advisors LLC is considering a bid for the digital banking arm of Orange SA, people familiar with the talks said, as the French telecom carrier’s search for a partner reaches its final stage.
The Paris-based carrier is also in talks with other parties interested in Orange Bank SA, including Cerberus Capital Management, and no final decision has been made yet, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private matters. There is no certainty that Ripplewood will proceed with a formal bid, the people said.
“The process of finding a partner is not yet complete,” Orange said in a statement to Bloomberg News. “Orange has received several expressions of interest from investors that are currently being reviewed.”
Ripplewood declined to comment. Cerberus didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Orange Bank was founded in 2017 to diversify the former French state-owned telecommunications monopoly’s revenue. The online bank now has over 2 million customers in France and Spain, and also operates in Ivory Coast in Africa through a separate entity.
However, the bank has never been profitable, with total losses of about €960 million since it was launched.
Orange Chief Executive Officer Christel Heydemann said at an investor day in February that Orange Bank was still under a strategic review, with the stand-alone plan for the lender foreseeing it reaching breakeven at the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026.
French banks Societe Generale SA and Credit Agricole SA decided against bidding for the lender, French daily Les Echos reported in March. BNP Paribas SA and Banco Santander SA also said previously that they weren’t interested.
It is not the first time Ripplewood has shown interest in French assets. In 2020, the firm entered in talks with BPCE SA to buy its digital bank Fidor, but discussions collapsed two years later.
In 2015, Ripplewood and a group of investors acquired a 75% stake in Latvian lender Citadele Banka AS.
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