David de Rothschild is stepping aside as chairman of Rothschild this summer to pass the reins to his son Alexandre in a long-awaited changing of the guard at the Franco-British investment bank.
The younger Mr de Rothschild has long been groomed to succeed his father as the seventh generation of the banking dynasty that was founded 200 years ago. Currently executive deputy chairman, he first joined the bank in 2008 after stints in both investment banking and private equity at Bank of America and Bear Stearns.
The dynastic handover, expected to take place in June, comes amid a push by the investment bank to diversify from its core French and British advisory business to help it ride out less buoyant periods in Europe’s mergers and acquisitions market.