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DUBAI, May 1 (Reuters) – Saudi National Bank’s (1180.SE) almost 10% shareholding in Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) will convert to approximately 0.5% of UBS (UBSG.S) following the merger of the two Swiss lenders, a bourse statement said on Monday.
Saudi National Bank (SNB), Credit Suisse’s top shareholder, said the carrying value of its investment in the troubled Swiss lender was 1.3 billion riyals ($346.63 million) at March 31, a decline of almost 70% during the first quarter.
The kingdom’s biggest bank by assets invested 5.5 billion riyals to buy the stake in Credit Suisse last year.
SNB’s former chairman in March said it could not buy more shares in Credit Suisse on regulatory grounds, helping trigger a further sell-off in the Swiss bank’s shares, worsening a crisis of confidence that eventually led to a government-arranged takeover by rival UBS.
“SNB’s shareholding in Credit Suisse of 9.88% will convert into a shareholding in UBS of approximately 0.5% upon completion of the merger,” the bourse statement said.
At December 31, 2022, the value of SNB’s investment in Credit Suisse had declined by approximately 20%, the statement said. It then posted an additional fall of almost 70% during the first three months of 2023.
In March, Fitch Ratings said the UBS takeover of Credit Suisse would have a neutral impact on SNB’s A- rating, due mainly to the limited contribution of the Credit Suisse investment to its group asset portfolio of less than 0.5% of total assets.
($1 = 3.7504 riyals)
Reporting by Rachna Uppal; Editing by Andrew Heavens
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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