Rothschild & Co, the Paris-listed investment bank being taken private by its owners, expects net income to more than halve this year due to a sharp fall in dealmaking.

Rothschild forecast on Monday full-year net income of around 280 million euros ($305.9 million), compared with 606 million euros in 2022 and 125 million euros for the first half of 2023. Operating income is seen at 540 million euros in 2023 compared with 967 million euros last year.

The bank said in a statement the forecasts "reflect the more challenging market environment in Global Advisory and Merchant Banking partially offset by a strong performance in Wealth and Asset Management". It did not provide further details ahead of half-year results due on Aug. 3.

Global mergers and acquisitions activity shrank to its lowest level in more than a decade in the first quarter of 2023, as rising interest rates, high inflation and fears of a recession soured companies' appetite for dealmaking.

At Rothschild, sales from M&A advisory - its biggest business - tumbled by 29% in the first quarter.

The Rothschild family's holding company Concordia filed its offer to take the bank private to the French market regulator on June 8, the statement said.

Concordia has said it no longer has as much need to access capital from equity markets and that the businesses of the bank are better assessed on a long-term basis rather than for their short-term performance.

($1 = 0.9153 euros)

(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)