BlackRock Denies Report It Is Preparing Takeover Bid For Credit Suisse – S Chronicles

• BlackRock has denied a report that it is preparing a takeover bid for ailing Swiss lender Credit Suisse.
• The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the situation, said the US wealth manager was preparing a takeover bid for the bank.
• UBS has also been mooted as a potential buyer, with the FT reporting on Friday that it is in talks to acquire all or part of Credit Suisse.

BlackRock headquarters in New York, U.S., on Friday, January 13, 2023. via Getty Images

Michael Nagel | Bloomberg | Getty Images

BlackRock has denied a report that it is preparing a takeover bid for ailing Swiss lender Credit Suisse.

“BlackRock is not involved in and has no interest in any plans to acquire all or any portion of Credit Suisse,” a company spokesman told CNBC on Saturday morning.

It comes after the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the situation, reported that the US wealth manager was working on a bid to acquire the bank.

UBS has also been raised as a potential buyer, with the FT reporting on Friday that it was in talks to acquire all or part of Credit Suisse after a tough week for the bank, which saw its share price slide.

Its future appears to be in jeopardy after a multi-billion dollar lifeline offered by the Swiss central bank last week failed to reassure investors.

Credit Suisse shares last week posted their worst weekly decline since the coronavirus pandemic began, falling nearly 35% month-to-date.

The latest drop in share price came after top investor, the National Bank of Saudi Arabia, announced it would no longer provide cash to the bank and followed a delay in its full-year results due to financial reporting concerns.

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank, the biggest bankruptcy since Lehman Brothers, and the closure of New York-based Signature Bank increased nervousness in the banking sector.

Credit Suisse was already in the midst of a massive strategic overhaul aimed at restoring stability and profitability. The company has faced various scandals and controversies in recent years, including the aftermath of its stake in collapsed supply chain finance firm Greensill Capital, which resulted in $1.7 billion in losses.

Shortly thereafter, the failure of hedge fund Archegos Capital resulted in another loss of $5.5 billion for the Swiss investment bank.

This – and other controversies – hit investor and customer confidence hard, causing the bank to lose billions of dollars in deposits.

— CNBC’s Ganesh Rao and Elliot Smith contributed to this report.