Bern nets SFr1.2bn on UBS stake
THE Swiss government yesterday sold its stake in UBS, netting a SFr1.2bn (£680m) profit and demonstrating market confidence in the bank.
Switzerland bought the 9.3 per cent stake in UBS late last year, after the credit crisis threatened the country’s largest bank’s survival.
It yesterday offloaded its 332m shares at SFr16.50 (£9.40) each, at a 2.7 per cent discount to market price, giving it a return of 32 per cent on an eight month investment.
The sale was run by Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and UBS itself, and order books for the sale are understood to have been three to five times oversubscribed.
Swiss authorities said the sale showed UBS had found a solid footing again after becoming one of the biggest victims in the credit crisis, and analysts said the government exit could herald a recovery at the bank.
The news came as an ex-UBS banker and a Swiss lawyer were indicted in the US for allegedly helping rich Americans hide their assets in private accounts, as the crack-down on offshore tax-evasion widened.
The pair were named as former senior UBS banker Hansruedi Schumacher and Swiss lawyer Matthias Rickenbach.
Meanwhile, lawyers in the US said they were taking hundreds of calls from wealthy clients preparing to turn themselves into the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).