Bloomberg learned about the plans of the Swiss authorities to fully or partially nationalize Credit Suisse

Full or partial nationalization of Credit Suisse (CS) is considered by the Swiss authorities as the only alternative to its acquisition by another Swiss bank – UBS. This is reported Bloomberg citing sources familiar with the situation.

Currently, banks with the participation of the Swiss central bank and financial regulator FINMA continue negotiations on the merger. In the morning, according to the Financial Times, UBS offered buy back CS at CHF 0.25 per share, well below Friday’s closing price. Thus, the total amount of the transaction does not exceed $1 billion, which is eight times lower than the market capitalization of CS at the close of Friday’s trading. According to Bloomberg, CS representatives, supported by its largest shareholders, opposed such terms of the deal, believing that the bank is seriously undervalued. It is in the event that the deal, which in the press, due to the unprecedented pressure on both banks by the authorities, has already been called a “wedding at gunpoint”, fails, the country’s authorities are preparing for nationalization.

According to Bloomberg sources, two options are being considered: total nationalization or establishing control over a “significant stake” in the bank’s equity capital.

The situation around Credit Suisse remains very volatile: the authorities want to complete the story one way or another before the opening of exchange trading in Asia, that is, before Sunday evening in Europe.

The Swiss Ministry of Finance declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.

Read more about the possible purchase of Credit Suisse – in the material “Kommersant” “According to the Zurich account”.

Andrey Kelekeyev