- BlackRock has denied a report that it is preparing a takeover bid for troubled Swiss lender Credit Suisse.
- The Financial Times had said the US asset manager was working on a bid to acquire the bank, citing people familiar with the matter.
- UBS has also been suggested as a potential buyer, with the FT reporting on Friday that it is in talks to take over all or part of Credit Suisse. UBS did not comment on the report.
BlackRock headquarters in New York, U.S. on Friday, Jan. 13, 2023. via Getty Images
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
BlackRock has denied a report that it is preparing a takeover bid for troubled Swiss lender Credit Suisse.
“BlackRock is not involved in any proposed acquisition of 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 acquire the bank, citing people familiar with the situation.
UBS has also been suggested as a potential buyer, with the FT reporting on Friday that it is in talks to take over all or part of Credit Suisse. UBS did not comment on the report.
Credit Suisse’s future appears to hang in the balance after a multi-billion dollar lifeline offered by the Swiss central bank last week failed to calm 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 share price decline came after the Saudi National Bank revealed it would no longer provide liquidity to the bank and followed a delay in its annual results due to financial reporting issues.
The failure of Silicon Valley Bank – the largest US bank failure since Lehman Brothers – and the closure of New York-based Signature Bank have heightened jitters around the global banking industry.
Credit Suisse was already in the midst of a massive strategic overhaul aimed at restoring stability and profitability. He has faced various scandals and controversies in recent years, including the fallout from his involvement with collapsed supply chain finance firm Greensill Capital, which resulted in losses of $1.7 billion. .
The default of hedge fund Archegos Capital soon after resulted in another $5.5 billion loss for the Swiss investment bank.
These and other controversies have hit investor and customer confidence hard, with the bank losing billions of dollars in deposits.
– CNBC’s Ganesh Rao and Elliot Smith contributed to this report.