“This statement of KKS was ridiculous!”

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UBS acquired Credit Suisse for CHF 3 billion on Sunday. The end of a model institution in the Swiss financial centre. Law professor Peter V. Kunz (57) comments in the Blick interview.

UBS bailed out Credit Suisse – is this the best of all bad solutions for Switzerland?
Peter V. Kunz: UBS did not save CS and neither did Switzerland. The statement by Federal Councilor Karin Keller-Sutter, who thanked UBS for this, is ridiculous. The gentlemen and women at UBS did their calculations. You are not a charity, you are a company that wants to make a profit. That’s how it has to be. But then you have to be honest and say so.

So is UBS the big winner?
UBS is getting what looks like a fully functioning bank at a ridiculous price. This is an extraordinary deal. You can now hold the profitable portions of Credit Suisse and sell the rest. UBS’ management certainly toasted this deal with a glass of champagne on Sunday evening. But there are still many question marks for me.

Which?
The basic principle of inheritance is clear to me. Exactly how this should happen remains completely unclear. Members of the Federal Council, the director of the SNB and the heads of the banks presented a very bad picture at the press conference held on Sunday evening. They were unable to answer important questions about price or deadlines. For example, at 9 p.m. on Sunday evening, no one knew whether CS shares would be traded after twelve hours on Monday morning. One wonders wexactly as gentlemen and women do at the weekend when they can’t answer such a simple question.

You don’t have a good feeling.
No – how? It seems that important issues have not been addressed. The Saudis invested several billion in Credit Suisse in the fall of 2022. Since then, the National Bank of Saudi Arabia has held 9.9 percent as the largest CS shareholder. It cost four francs per share. And now the Saudis are de facto nationalized by the Swiss state, with the Federal Council’s decision by the state of emergency that shareholders receive only 76 cents per share. Do you think the Saudis will put up with it?

Do you have any other option?
Time will show us. It is completely illegal not to ask CS shareholders about the agreement anymore. The Federal Council justifies this with the emergency law. But on Friday, the public was told the bank was liquid and not an emergency. Major shareholders can bind the federal government to this statement. Lawsuits will come. It is quite possible that the Saudis will directly sue the federal government over CS.

Should lawsuits be expected from small shareholders?
In Switzerland this may be legally possible, but practically unthinkable. There is no class action lawsuit in Switzerland. Local small shareholders will have to accept losses in CS shares, no matter how unfair. The situation is different in the United States, where CS is currently facing class action lawsuits by minor shareholders.

Source :Blick