UBS sells some Credit Suisse assets to US buyout fund

Zurich — UBS has sealed the sale of Credit Suisse’s securitised products business to Apollo Global Management as part of efforts to shed noncore assets after its takeover of the collapsed banking group.

Apollo will purchase $8bn of senior secured financing facilities, UBS said on Wednesday, adding that it expects to make a net gain of about $300m from the deal in the first quarter of 2024.

The agreement is a renegotiation of the deal Credit Suisse had reached with the US buyout fund in the Swiss banking group’s last-ditch attempts at a revamp to avoid collapse.

“This mutually beneficial agreement aligns with UBS’s strategy of winding down and simplifying its noncore and legacy portfolio,” UBS said on Wednesday.

CEO Sergio Ermotti said the deal would free up capital from noncore activities and reduce costs and complexity in its business.

Credit Suisse had to be rescued in March last year in a government-sponsored operation.

Luzerner Kantonalbank analyst Daniel Bosshard said the Apollo deal was a sign that the Credit Suisse integration was going better than expected.

“The early praise is now very high, which is reflected in a sharp rise in the share price in recent months,” Bosshard said. “This leaves little room for disappointment.”

UBS shares are up about 8% so far this year. They were down about 0.46% in early trading in Zurich on Wednesday.

In 2022, Credit Suisse had already begun the process of winding down its business of securitising products such as mortgages. Under that plan, about $20bn of remaining assets were to stay on the books of Credit Suisse but be managed by Apollo.

UBS will retain what is not being transferred to Apollo, a spokesperson for the bank said. The value of the former assets remaining with UBS is not immediately clear.

Reuters