- BlackRock has denied reports that it is preparing a takeover bid for Swiss lender Credit Suisse.
- The Financial Times had reported that the US asset manager was working on a bid to buy the bank, citing people familiar with the situation.
- UBS has also been mooted as a potential buyer, with the FT reporting on Friday that it is in talks to take over all or part of Credit Suisse.
BlackRock headquarters in New York, United States on Friday, January 13, 2023. via Getty Images
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
BlackRock has denied reports that it is preparing a takeover bid for Swiss lender Credit Suisse.
“BlackRock is not involved in any plans to acquire all or part of Credit Suisse, and has no interest in doing so,” a company spokesperson told CNBC on Saturday morning.
It comes after the Financial Times reported that the US asset manager was working on a bid to buy the bank, citing people familiar with the matter.
UBS has also been touted as a potential buyer, with the FT reporting on Friday that it is in talks to take over all or part of Credit Suisse after a tough week for the bank that saw its shares fall.
Its future appears to be hanging in the balance after a multibillion-dollar bailout offered by the Swiss National Bank last week failed to reassure investors.
Shares of Credit Suisse posted their worst weekly decline since the start of the coronavirus pandemic last week, and are down nearly 35% in the month to date.
The latest decline in the share price came after top investor Saudi Arabia’s central bank revealed it would no longer provide the bank with cash and followed a delay in its annual results due to financial reporting problems.
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the biggest banking failure since Lehman Brothers, and the closing of New York-based Signature Bank added to the jitters in the banking sector.
Credit Suisse was already in the middle of a major strategic overhaul aimed at restoring stability and profitability. It has faced a number of scandals and controversies in recent years, including the fallout from its involvement with collapsed supply chain finance firm Greensill Capital, which led to $1.7 billion in losses.
The failure of hedge fund Archegos Capital soon led to a $5.5 billion loss for the Swiss investment bank.
These – and other controversies – severely damaged investor and customer confidence, causing the bank to lose billions of dollars in deposits.
— CNBC’s Ganesh Rao and Elliot Smith contributed to this report.