St. Gallen-based Raiffeisen said it will sell the 10 percent of Avaloq that it bought less than two years ago, as part of a joint infrastructure build, to Warburg Pincus. The U.S. private equity firm bought 35 percent of the Zurich-based banking software firm eight months ago, and told finews.com that it sees a stock listing for the firm as soon as 2020.

The move gives Warburg Pincus 45 percent of Avaloq, with founder Francisco Fernandez and the management still holding a majority stake. Raiffeisen said it sold the stake at a gain, without specifying financial details.

Dropping Out

Raiffeisen and Avaloq are partners in Arizon, a three-year project to renew the cooperative lender's information technology. With the platform ready to launch imminently, Avaloq will buy Raiffeisen out of Arizon in 2019.

«The decision to sell the stakes to Avaloq and to Warburg Pincus is a clear and credible acknowledgement of establishing a pure client-supplier relationship with a stronger focus on operative cooperation, not financial holdings,» Raiffeisen said in a statement.

Arizon becomes a fully-owned Avaloq subsidiary through the sale, which won't cost any jobs. Seller Raiffeisen said it will use the proceeds to bolster its capital base.