by Oliver Hirt, Stefania Spezzati and John O’Donnell
(Reuters) – UBS Group AG has offered to buy Credit Suisse for up to $1 billion (around 930 million euros), as the Swiss government plans to change national regulations to do without the shareholder vote on the transaction, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
Credit Suisse and UBS declined to comment on this information while no comment could be immediately obtained from the Swiss government.
According to Bloomberg News, which cites sources familiar with the matter, Credit Suisse is resisting UBS’s offer, deeming it too low and likely to penalize its shareholders and employees with stock options.
The all-stock offer was made on Sunday morning at a unit price of 0.25 Swiss francs, the FT reported, and could be signed by the end of the day.
The price offered is well below the closing price of the Credit Suisse share on Friday (1.86 francs).
A source familiar with the talks told Reuters on Saturday that UBS was seeking a guarantee of around six billion dollars (5.6 billion euros) from the Swiss Federal Council for a possible takeover of Credit Suisse. .
Discussions are still ongoing and this amount could be changed as several scenarios are still under consideration, the source said.
The guarantees are to be used to cover the cost of impairment of certain Credit Suisse assets and possible litigation costs, two sources told Reuters.
Talks to resolve the crisis of confidence around Credit Suisse are facing major hurdles and some 10,000 jobs could be at risk if the two banks merge, one of the sources said.
Swiss regulators are keen to present a solution for Credit Suisse’s future before markets reopen on Monday, the source added.
Sunday on France 3, the French Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire called for “a rapid, massive and credible solution” to be found.
The 167-year-old institution is among the 30 most important banks in the world from a systemic point of view, and its failure would send shock waves through the entire global financial sector. Credit Suisse’s troubles erupted after the collapse of two US banks, SVB and Signature.
According to the FT, the all-stock offer was made on Sunday morning at a unit price of 0.25 Swiss francs and could be signed by the end of the day.
The price offered is well below the closing price of the Credit Suisse share on Friday (1.86 francs).
(With John Revill, Gilles Guillaume for the )
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