UBS to Buy Credit Suisse in $3.2B Deal

[Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the final price of the UBS-Credit Suisse transaction, which is roughly $1.3 billion higher than what was initially reported Sunday by Bloomberg and other sources.]

UBS Group AG agreed to buy Credit Suisse Group AG in a historic, government-brokered deal aimed at containing a crisis of confidence that had started to spread across global financial markets.

The Swiss bank is paying 3 billion francs ($3.2 billion) for its rival in an all-share deal that includes extensive government guarantees and liquidity provisions. The price per share marked a 99% decline from Credit Suisse’s peak in 2007.

The Swiss National Bank is offering a 100 billion-franc liquidity assistance to UBS while the government is granting a 9 billion-franc guarantee for potential losses from assets UBS is taking over. Regulator Finma said about 16 billion francs of Credit Suisse bonds will become worthless to ensure private investors help shoulder the costs.

The plan, negotiated in hastily arranged crisis talks over the weekend, seeks to address client outflows and a massive rout in Credit Suisse’s stock and bonds over the past week following the collapse of smaller U.S. lenders.

A liquidity backstop by the Swiss central bank mid-week failed to end a market drama that threatened to send counterparties fleeing, with potential ramifications for the broader industry.

“It was indispensable that we acted quickly and find a solution as quickly as possible“ given that Credit Suisse is a systemically important bank, Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan said at a press conference late Sunday.

The Federal Reserve and Treasury Department welcomed the deal, as did the European Central Bank. U.S. authorities had been working with their Swiss counterparts because both lenders have extensive operations in the US, Bloomberg reported earlier.

Authorities sought an agreement before markets opened again in Asia.

U.S. equity futures rose early Monday as investors weighed the agreement and central bank moves to boost dollar liquidity. The Fed and five other central banks announced coordinated action on Sunday to boost liquidity in U.S. dollar swap arrangements, the latest effort by policymakers to ease growing strains in the global financial system.

Bloomberg chart showing A Widening Gap in Market Value | UBS and Credit Suisse used to be similarly valued. Not anymore

What’s Next

UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher said he will shrink Credit Suisse’s investment bank, a unit that has racked up losses in recent years, likely ending the dreams of a CS First Boston spinoff.

Historic Event

The takeover of the 166 year-old lender marks a historic event for the nation and global finance. The former Schweizerische Kreditanstalt was founded by industrialist Alfred Escher in 1856 to finance the build-out of the mountainous nation’s railway network. It had grown into global powerhouse symbolizing Switzerland’s role as a global financial center, before struggling to adapt to a changed banking landscape after the financial crisis.

UBS traces its roots back through some 370 separate institutions over 160 years, culminating in the merger of the Union Bank of Switzerland and the Swiss Bank Corporation in 1998.

After emerging from a state bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, UBS built a reputation as one of the world’s largest wealth managers, catering to high- and ultra-high net worth individuals globally.

While Credit Suisse avoided a bailout during the financial crisis, it has been hammered over recent years by a series of blowups, scandals, leadership changes and legal issues.

Clients had pulled more than $100 billion of assets in the last three months of last year as concerns mounted about its financial health, and the outflows continued even after it tapped shareholders in a 4 billion-franc capital raise.

“This was the only possible solution,” Swiss Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said, adding it was needed to stabilize the Swiss as well as international financial markets. Credit Suisse, she said, was no longer able to survive on its own.