RBR courts fellow investors for Credit Suisse break-up
Zurich — Activist investor RBR Capital Advisors sought to rally support for a campaign to break up Credit Suisse on Tuesday, hoping to capitalise on unrest after Switzerland’s second-largest bank lost about a quarter of its value since 2015. However, the Swiss hedge fund led by Rudolf Bohli, 48, has taken a stake of only about 0.2% in Credit Suisse and faces a steep challenge to muster the backing needed to succeed. "This is like an ant trying to tackle an elephant," said Marc Halperin, fund manager at Federated Investors, a top-25 Credit Suisse shareholder, according to Thomson Reuters data. The campaign comes about two years into Credit Suisse CE Tidjane Thiam’s three-year plan to focus on wealth management and rely less on investment banking. RBR, which has been in contact with Credit Suisse’s management, wants to divide the company into an investment bank, an asset management group and a wealth manager accommodating the Zurich-based bank’s retail and corporate banking operations...
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